Imogen Calderwood
TIME is running out for a revolutionary theatre project in Andalucia, which has just a month left to raise vital funds.
The project – Un Teatro Entre Todos – aims to build a spectacular amphitheatre in the Alpujarra mountains.
Building started in the village of Laroles in January 2013 and the stage and half the 300 seats are completed, funding provided by the Junta has run dry.
The team has raised €6,000, but there is a long way to go to reach the €10,000 needed to finish the theatre, due to open this summer.
Oxford-educated Anna Kemp, the mastermind behind the project, was inspired by childhood visits to the Minack Theatre in Cornwall, in the UK.
“The charm and the beauty of the experience left a huge impression on me. I remember as the night closed in and the light faded, it’s a really magical experience,” Anna, 44, told The Olive Press.
Anna fell in love with Laroles after being involved in a film project there. She now lives there there with her husband and three children.
In September 2012 she decided the amphitheatre project would be a perfect solution to the village’s struggling economy.
“The village struck such a chord with me, because the people who grow up there stay and start their own families. You don’t get that in England,” she said.
“The traditions and customs of the village are so important to the people who live there. I thought that outsiders would really benefit from experiencing that, and the village would benefit from the tourism.”
Anna has been teaching theatre to the village children for six years, and plans to launch a festival in 2015 to celebrate poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca.
“Even without the funds, we won’t be defeated,” said Anna. “We’ve come too far to stop now.”
For more information and to donate, visit www.sponsume.com/project/un-teatro-entre-todos
