After the Heat we Battle for the Heart
directed by Carla Kingham, Vaults Festival
Starring Paula Rodriguez, Jennie Eggleton, Fed Zanni and Josh Taylor
“It’s an unabashedly emotional piece that wears its proudly feminist heart on its sleeve.”
“Brown has written a completely stunning piece”
‘The gift of the duende’ - it can come, and it can go. It’s a dance, a game in which you compete to the death.
Spain, 1949. Conchita is about to enter the ring and face her 750th bull. She plaits her hair, she picks up her sword and she prays. Franco’s law has banned women from bullfighting on foot. Conchita is about to take matters into her own hands. One false step and a bull’s horn could pierce an artery, toss her high into the air. She’s seen blood shoot from a matador’s thighs so hard it could have painted a wall.
England, 2015. Half a century later Ruth gets back from a salsa lesson, steps up on to her window sill and readies herself to jump. In a split second this modern woman comes face to face with the smallness of her flat, the silence of her bed, her squashed up and sweat-stuck daily commute. Her inability to fight. Her cowardice. Her fear. Her block.
Under the heat of the Spanish sun, in the land of bullfighting, flamenco and the gift of duende, these two pertinent stories collide. After the Heat, we Battle for the Heart is inspired by the true story of female bullfighter Conchita Cintrón and the rebellious act that came to define her career.
