Don Quijote De La Mancha is probably the greatest novel of all time. This opinion is also shared by the Nobel Prize Committee. Theater adaptions of Don Quijote often simplify this great piece of literature to an extent, in which the "Knight of the Sorrowful Countenance" and his loyal squire, Sancho Panza, are relegated to the role of fools. In contrast, this new adaption explores the depth and meaning of this masterpiece, which resembles Kafka and Beckett's style rather than that of Laurel and Hardy. The artistic director Paul Stebbings focuses on the grotesque and macabre humor that illuminates the human condition. The novel in its original form is strikingly modern, which is reflected in this screenplay. It's a book within a book and a drama within a drama, pulling the audience into the maze of the plot and taking them on a frenetic and wondrous journey to the sun-drenched highlands of Renaissance Spain, where nothing is as it seems, and yet where truth, tolerance and human dignity triumph over prejudice, superstition and greed.

Although the topics of this colossal work are profound and moving, the way they are conveyed on stage is dynamic and highly entertaining. Don Quijote de la Mancha is a rollercoaster rider of adventures, battles, old and new romances, deceit, betrayal and loyalty.  The production is fast-paced and more expressive than the book; the action is accompanied by newly composed incidental music by Paul Flush. Director Paul Stebbings already enjoyed multiple international successes of his versions of Hamlet, Moby Dick, Oliver Twist and the most recent play, Romeo and Juliet. This is his second play in Spanish, having enacted the award-winning play A Christmas Carol in Costa Rica. Paul Morales, member of Central America's leading theater group, Teatro Terruño, will support Paul. The production will be performed in modern, understandable Spanish. 

This production is based on the novel Don Quijote de la Mancha.

Cide Hamete, a Moor, is arrested and indicted for wrongly claiming to be a Christ during the time of the Spanish inquisition. He claims to be working for Cervantes and to have written the majority of Don Quijote de la Mancha. The inquisitor offers him the chance to defend himself by telling the story of Don Quijote and thus prooving to be working Cervantes' employee. That way, Hamete recounts the adventures of the "Knight of Sorrowful Countenance" and his loyal squire, Sancho Panza. Moreover, elements from both, the first and the second book are adapted, through which the hero is portrayed as the innocent and unknown knight of the first book, as well as the famous protagonist of the second book. The adventure's climax features Don Quijote's final acceptance of death and self-awareness, which appears to parallel the character of Hamete.

The play will be performed in Spanish by the American Drama Group Europe.

Duration: 90 minutes.

Photo: Scene from "Don Quijote" ©Grantly Marshall