Title:
“HOLY SHIT” or “We Couldn’t call it what we wanted to call it so we called it HOLY CRAP”

Characters: 1
Human: Man (or woman) of any age.

Stage Setting: a toilet

Type of Theatre:
An entertaining comedy that revolves around constipation, education and the religious experience.
Scatology and eschatology mixing together: excrements and the after life.
A fun comedy about a constipated, mature man set against those marvelous diarrheas of his childhood.
Your entertainment functions as a spiritual form of self-help in order to open up the entrails.

Polemic:
Upon its debut in Madrid, Christian religious pacifists verbally assaulted the play on a daily basis and created the cultural medium so that a military arm of the Christian religious pacifists, in his traditional comprehensiveness towards the freedom of expression, could rise up onto the stage with the objective of burning down the theatre and beating the actor, author, and tech group to blows, all of whom ended up in the hospital.

One of the few plays in current Spanish theatre that everyone has heard of.

A play that received much controversy throughout the media during months.

The only theatrical play that, for a time, held the historical record of having received more formal complaints (over three thousand) than viewers.

Since the transition, this has been the first play in Spain where artists are violently assaulted.

A play that has had two court proceedings in Madrid: that of the denouncers against the author which the judge dismissed; that of the author, the actor, and the technical group against the assailants. In a recent sentence judge Esteban writes that “…the outrage or blindness that served as the site of the behavior on behalf of the accused, is comprehended by the judge…” and she lets them off free with only a small fine. That is to say that, this turns into the argument of the rapist and the miniskirt that never ceases to serve as a source of provocation.

Productions:
A debut at the Theatre “The Grotto” from the “Greek Cultural Center” of Mexico under the direction of José Saldaña and the performance of Omar Medina. 2004. Subsequent re-opening in the Theatre La Capilla in Mexico. It ran for a year and a half.

Debut at the “Circle of Fine Arts” in Madrid under the direction of Pedro Forero and the performance of Fernando Incera. Subsequent re-opening at the Theatre Alfil in Madrid. 2004

Debut at the “Theatre 14 Jean Marie Serreau” in Paris under the direction of Susana Lastreto and the performance of François Frapier. Subsquent re-opening at the “Théatre Lavoir Moderne Parisien” in Paris. 2004

Debut at the “Theatre of the Commune” in Lisboa under the direction of Íñigo Ramírez de Haro and the performance of Carloto Cotta. 2006

Performance at the Festival of Performance and Politics in New York under the direction of Daniel Banks and the performance of Tyrone Henderson. 2003

Performance in Kinshasa under the direction of Wedou Wetungani. July 2006.

Translations::
-English: “In God we shit”. Translated by Héctor Magaña.

-French 1: “Vers toi, mon Dieu, je chie”. Translated by Luc-Françcois Granier.

-French 2: “Bon Dieu de merde”. Translated by Joseph Maleaba

-Italian: “Un Cagata da Dio”. Translated by Roberto Giacomelli.

-Portuguese: “Cagome en Deus”. Translated by Carlota Cotta.

-Hebrew: “Elohim batachat sheli”. Translatied by Yotam Benshalom.

Publications:
“Me cago en Dios y otras cagadas”. La Vispa Editorial. Madrid. 2004

“La gloire des athées”. (The glory of the atheists). Anthology. Editorial “Les nuits rouges”. Paris. 2006. Anthology of rationalist and antireligious texts from antiquity up to present day.

Critics have said:
“Us none-believers would be offended by such repeated clerical and civil manifestations, but we’ve gotten used to it: as long as we’re not burned to death.”
Eduardo Haro Tecglen. “El País”

“The performance is a scatological satire on the repressed hypocrisy of fanatic Catholicism, of double standards and the worship of suffering, of humiliation and of punishment.”
José Henriquez. “Guia del Ocio”

“In God we Shit…provoked within the public, the need to reflect on one’s own religious beliefs and the consequences that such diverse ideologies have provoked as wars or fanaticism.”
Patricia Cordero. “Reforma” (Mexico)

“The monologue’s irreverent and provocative language sets off the laughter of the young spectators who see their reflection in the mirror of the stage.”
Cristina Tamariz. “El Universal” (Mexico)

Studies:
“Irreverence and transgression in the face of Spanish mysticism: the dramaticism of Íñigo Ramírez de Haro.”
Carlos Manuel Rivera. Davidson College. (United States)

Excerpts of revues:
“A mental constipation satire”… José Henríquez, “Guía del Ocio” Spain
“Scatological Eschatology”… García Garzón, “ABC” Spain
“A holy diarrhea”… Tomás Cuesta, “ABC” Spain
“Well written… Bold comedy”… Haro Tecglen, “El País” Spain
“People don’t talk on anything else”… Carmen Pasadas, “La Razón” Spain
“Clearly humorous”… François Musseau, “Liberation” France
“Caustic (acerbic), wild and disrupting”… Audre Bedy, “L’humanité” France
“Spiritual catharsis… It makes you think… A purification metaphore”… Patricia Cordero, “Reforma” Mexico
“Utterly sarcastic”… Carlos Paul, “La Jornada” Mexico
“A liberating ritual of purification”… Verónica Díaz, “Milenio” Mexico
“You roar with laughter”… Cristina Tamariz, “El Universal” Mexico
“Ironic, subtile and rich”… Maria Francisca Seabra, “Woman” Portugal
“Controversial”… Sofia Canelas de Castro, “Correio de Manha”Portugal
“A provocative meditation on religion”… Maria Joao Caetano, “Diario de Noticias” Portugal
“A satirical and critical reflexión on guilt and faith… to exorcize intestinal problems” Ines Calado Saraiva, “O Publico” Portugal
“The best orgasm”… Rosa Pedroso, Portugal

GALLERY

EXTRACT: View PDF

Holy Shit Extract

Title: Your weapon against the unrelenting cellulite

Characters: 4 (1 woman and 3 men)
Bartola: a middle-aged woman in a very broad sense
Santiago: her husband.
Ramírez: a theatre director. Any age.
Haro: a salesman. Any age.

Stage setting: None.

Summary: A very normal couple goes to the theater to see a comedy for entertainment. What will turn out to be a surprise for them is when the director of the play announces that, not only will there be no play to entertain anyone, but that they also won´t be able to leave the theater, locked in until they feel something truly genuine for themselves, bearing in mind an original proposal: boredom.

Type of theater: An intelligent and amusing comedy about the dominant culture of success, of the “famous”, of dreams coming true, of actually becoming somebody, of all that is enjoyable, of entertainment, of the relationships, of what love is, of propaganda, of image, of i have to take a little bit off from here and add little bit more over there, of everything is sold and everything is bought, of it depends on who and it doesn´t matter who…, in other words, of the highly topical.

Dramatized interpretation: In SGAE of Madrid under the direction of Ernesto Caballero.

Publication: In the book, “Your Weapon Against the Unrelenting Cellulite, History of a Winner; Black Against White.¨ UNED editorial. 2005.

EXTRACT: View PDF

Your weapon against the unrelenting cellulite | Extract

Title: The duchess goes wild

Characters: 6
Duchess: An elderly woman with a lot of character and a very bad temper, but who with her little heart, as it must be said, is dying.
Nuño: The eldest son, heir of the duke, already a gentleman of a certain age and of certain habits.
Viviana: The Duchess’ German secretary and lover over the past decades.
Linda: Nuño’s american wife and millionaire, a protestant of boston with a penchant for becoming the Duchess.
Mariposa: Nuño and Linda’s only child, gothic and strange, who will one day be the heiress of the Duchess.
Riki: a spoiled brat and a freak, whose roots will be triggering the action throughout

Stage setting: 2 worlds (aristocratic-bureaucratic) and 2 spaces:
- An old, decaying aristocratic palace: A bedroom with a historic bed where the duchess grows sick; the rooms
- Rich bureaucratic house: Living room.

Summary: Dispute amongst the heirs- the elder son and his family on one side, the secretary-lover on the other- over the spoils of an old, agonizing duchess while new revelation over who is who, are revealed.

Type of theater: Farse-grotesque-comedy about aristocracy (and its contrast with bureaucracy) with all of its highs and its lows. A comedy that fully immerses itself in current reality. Beneath each laugh there are seven layers of provocation, satire, clamor, profanity, corrosion, rebellion and excellence.

See the programme: “The man does not tend towards happiness; only the English dedicate themselves to that” (link)

Productions: Muñoz Seca de Madrid Theater where it premiered on January 22nd, 2009. After a long tour throughout Spain.

The critics have said:

“The public gave a standing ovation.” Jesús Mariñas. “La Razón”

“Absurd comedy.” Esther Moreno. “Guía del Ocio”

“The author has a fondness for polemic topics.” Edurne Urreta. “El Mundo”

“A spot on portrait on the humor of high aristocracy.” Beatriz Portinari. “El País”

“Brilliant actress, Terele Pávez, gives life to an agonizing duchess who contemplates the way in which everyone fights for her inheritance.”- Beatriz Cortázar. “La Razón”

“Attaining Friends.” Luis Alorri. “Tiempo”

“To sum it up: Slapstick and nasty temper.” Carmen Rigalt. “El Mundo”

“This true alchemist of controversy… this agitator of the masses, returns with full force.” Javier Cid. “El Mundo”

“An absurd comedy, an episode closely tied to surrealism.” Cote Villar. “El Mundo”

GALLERY

EXTRACT: View PDF

The Duchess goes wild | Extract

Title: Today I can’t go to work because I am in love

Characters: 4 protagonists and office workers
Juan: A young man.
Ana: His girlfriend
Boss: Any age
Partner: Juan´s age.

Stage setting: 2 spaces: Home and office.

Summary: An enamored couple tries to defend its love and its space against the pressures from the working world.

Type of theater: A drama on the situations between love and work.

A sharp x-ray on the world of our offices.

A dilemma between the individual and society, between freedom and servitude with the spectrum of hunger.

Is love compatible with the competitive nature of our societies?

Can one contemplate a sick leave for being in love?

Productions:
- Premiere at the Guimerá of Tenerife Theater, under the direction of Natalia Menéndez. October 2000.
- Tour throughout theaters and festivals in Spain such as in Alicante. 2000-2001.
- A season at the Galileo Theater of Madrid. 2001.

Publications: “Today I Can´t Go to Work Because I am in Love.” La Avispa editorial. 2000.

The critics have said:

“…an impassioned and intense play, painful, and once again impassioned and once again intense…”
Alfredo Bryce Echenique

“…one of the most interesting shows of the moment. Works like these are necessary if we truly wish to enrich the landscape of contemporary dramaturgy…”
Marc Llorente. Información.

“…breaks a lance in favor of that cause for which so many women fight and which does none other than exhibit men and women just as they are…”
Sergio Sánchez Rivero. La Provincia.

“A nightmare of love and death”
José Orive. Canarias 7.

“An uncomfortable work, a work of today, dehumanization of a world in which love does not fit”
Javier Villá. “El Cultural”.

“The incomprehensiveness and ferociousness of a society that does not permit individualism, love and sincerity”
Salvador Enríquez.

Today I can’t go to work because I am in love | Extract

Title: The story of a winner

Characters: 4 (2 women and 2 men)
Arca: A middle-aged man.
Arcadio: His father.
Jenny: Arca’s wife.
Socorro: Approximately the same age as the couple.

Scene setting: Those of the scenes.

Type of theater: Humorous drama about ambition, obsession with winning, with being number one and making dreams come true no matter the price.

Dramatized reading: Arriage Theater in Bilbao under the direction of Mikel Albisu.

Productions: Opening at the La Capilla in Mexico by the GENERANDO company, directed by Emilio Oribuela with Rodolfo Galindo and Teresa García among others. 17 of July, 2009.

The critics have said:
“A long time ago I wanted to direct a contemporary theater play which would critique without ever managing to be libelous or a theater of denunciation… And this one does just that, because it critiques with dark humor, acidic, strong and with guts… A vertiginous rhythm (that) generates an anxiety within the audience to know the denouement. “ Derby Roberto Arboleda, first director of the play.

“Always preoccupied with the search for new structures in the theater”. Luis Miguel Paredes. “El Universal” Mexico

Publication: In the book, “Your Weapon Against the Unrelenting Cellulite; History of a Winner; Black against White”. UNED Editorial. 2005

GALLERY

The story of a winner | Extract

Title: Extinction

Characters: 4
Luz: A middle-aged woman.
Mario: Her husband.
Iván: Her son.
Otto: Any age.

Stage setting: A closed space with leaks in the ceiling. The rear part of a car with a television. Kitchen with a gas tap.

Summary: A married couple lives a strange and routine enclosure. The son comes to realize his revenge upon them. The mother plays out a different relationship in her head.

Type of theater: An ironic tragic-comedy on family and enclosure.

Aa puzzle halfway between amusement, playfulness and criticism.

Hey, do you know a more sinister institution than the family?

It combines the caustic with the intimate, the desperate with the comic.

The family has humor in it, it will soon disappear.

The humor conditions the style whose undercurrent hides a notable violence.

An amusing and efficient play.

The four black (or white) beasts of my inspiration run loose.

The time has come to eradicate their common denominator: monotheism.

I am fed up with the world.

Productions:
- Premiere at the “El Portón de Sánchez Theater” in Buenos Aires, Argentina, under the direction of Rúben Szuchmacher. 2002.
- Season in Buenos Aires. 2002-2003.
- Tour throughout festivals in Spain and Latin America. Among those places, Cádiz, Madrid (Fall Festival) and Buenos Aires (International Festival). 2002-2003.
- Opening at the “Cultural Center of Spain” of Santiago of Chile under the direction of Pablo Krogh. 2002.
- Season in Santiago of Chile and festivals in Chile. 2004-2005.
- Opening at the ESAD Theater in Cordoba, Spain, by the EN-CRUDO Company. Direction by Nieves López. June 2008.
- Semi-staged in Buenos Aires under the direction of Rubén Pires. 2001.
- Semi-staged in the Hellenic Cultural Center of Mexico under the direction of Saúl Melendez Viana. 2003.

the critics have said:
“A fierce fable of our days. I felt it was a meaningful and imaginative text in which the metaphor served not as a way of poeticizing or intellectualizing rage, but as a way of releasing it.
José Monleón. “Primer Acto”

“Very good. ‘Extinction’ talks about a profound devastation”
Carlos Pacheco. “La Nación” (Buenos Aires)

“The show seduces through its capacity to highlight in a simple and magisterial way, the-thirsty-for-blood jaws, latent under the routinely affects of the family”
Juan Ignacio García Garzón. “ABC”

“The author takes from the four horsemen of his particular Apocalypse and makes them ride through a scenic architecture that is well-connected although it does not cease to be labyrinthine.”
Ignacio Amestoy. “Las Puertas del Drama”

“’Extinction’ is one of the most singular works that is currently being shown in Buenos Aires. An intelligent theater.”
Federico Irazánal. “El Refugio de la Cultura”

“A sample of a theater that is on point, and where laughter gave wings to the audience.”
Feliz Estaire de la Rosa. “Gatos en Escena”

“His absurdities, outbursts and sexual discharges realize a recognizable and visceral experience, which furthermore, brings with it a lucid critique of certain norms and values.”
Patricia Espinosa. “Clarín” (Buenos Aires)

“Parody appears to be his way of expressing a weariness or a surfeit that provokes certain social structures and conventions. “
Eduardo Pérez Rasilla. “Reserva”

Publication:
“Extinction.” Ñaque Editora. 2002.
Extracts translated into French, Italian, Greek and Portuguese by the Atelier Européen of the Traduction d’Órleans. 2003.

GALLERY

Extinction | Extract

Title: Humankind is ugly

Characters: 4

1,2,3, and 4: Unisex, uni-racial, uni-cultural, uni-tendencial

Scene setting: The ICU of a hospital.

Summary: 4 people with terminal illnesses compete to see who will die first.

Type of theater: Absurd tragic-comedy, yet very real, about the perverse delight within society over illness, and the obsession over social security: Does there exist a more pleasurable topic of conversation other than this?: “Well, if I were to tell you what happened to the cousin of my brother-in-law´s wife, who was perfectly peaceful and then, all of a sudden, she felt a pain right here, no big thing, well…anything can happen”?

Productions: Opening at the Calor Paredes Auditorio Theater in Lisboa, by the company, “Kind of Black Box” and under the direction of Joao Craveiro. 27 of March, 2011. Subsequent tour throughout Portugal, Brazil and Spain.

GALLERY

Humankind is ugly | Extract

Title: Black versus White

Characters:
Black: A man, any age.
White: A woman of similar age.

Scene setting: A hospital room

Summary: Black, paralysed after an accident, asks white, the nurse at the hospital, to kill him. A love story starts.

Type of theatre: Intense drama of love and death.

Production: Premiere at the Theatre “Cuarta Pared” of Madrid in the Fall Festival. By the Buenos Aires (Argentina) Company Grupo Alucía. Director Bernardo Cappa. 2004

The critics have said:
“The playwright authorized the director of the play to do with the text whatever he wanted… Using all that generosity, there is then nothing to reproach the director, Bernardo Cappa, for creating a show that couldn’t be more away from the playwright’s idea”
Jerónimo López Mozo. “Reseña”

Black versus White | Extract

Title: I wish you were dead

Characters: 6 actors split up into multiple characters: 3 husbands, 3 wives, Diógene the cynic, The little boy, The whale-catcher, The woman of the medusas, The foreigner, The specter.

Stage setting: Different spaces in a vacation club during carnival: coast, forest, desert, and afterlife.

Summary: 3 stories of couples with dreams, their hatreds and their nightmares in a magical day of carnival. The couples who try to recompose their relationships little by little begin to entangle themselves in a world of transgression, of magic and of wisdom with strange characters of undetermined reality that will change them without a way of turning back.

Type of theater: Tragic-comedy of life and death, in which it is unknown whether we stand before a dense drama, a light comedy of situations or a farce: the most serious of things emerge from a loose laugh and the silliest of things affirm themselves as being charged with solemnity. Life itself.

¡Oh, the couple!…What are you thinking?…About love? Even passion?—Yes, but also in “leave me alone, honey, tonight I´m tired? Even about boredom? Even about depression?…Yes, but also in “don´t ever leave me, I can´t live without you? Even about friendship? Even about the kids? Even about keeping each other company until death?… Yes, but also in “we can´t go on like this, I can´t take one more minute of this”? Even in returning to life, to the unknown, to laughter, to better the devil you know than the devil you don´t, to having not just one fling but many?…

A play of deformity and mix, of realism and comedy of art, of flesh and masks, of reality and fantasy, of the grotesque and of poetry…in hidden, subterranean, pagan forces that rise and that we all carry within us without knowing if it’s a dream, nonsense or nature: “A night of craziness in order to stand a year of sensibility”.

A fun, tragic and disturbing play. Disturbing, like when we get up in the morning, look at ourselves in the mirror and grow doubtful: Am I really alive?

JAIME.- But how do you speak of passion if you are dead?
JULIA.- Perhaps you have to die in order to live.

Productions:
- Showing at the Principal Theater in Zaragoza, Dramatic Center in Aragón by the Company, El Gato Negro Theater, under the direction of Alberto Castrillo. 23 of October, 2006.
- Tour throughout Spain and France. 2007-2008

Critics:
“The stories of three couples are braided with intelligence and brilliance. A magnificent rhythm that is very well measured”. Joaquín Melguizo. “Heraldo de Aragón”

“Ramírez de Haro… laughs about everything”. Rosana Torres. “El País”

“’I Wish You Were Dead’ is a more ambitious Project: 47 performances that reach success with its audience and its critics”. E.P/R.C.L. “Heraldo de Aragón”

“Íñigo Ramírez de Haro is not one to evade the issue at hand… He has great strength”. Javier Villán. “El Mundo”

“’I Wish You Were Dead’ is not exactly calming and it foretells tempestuous polemics. A modernity with a hard and twisted tusk”.

“There are literary discoveries of ancestry…Harsh, hurtful language of great literary fracture”. Florentino Negrín. “La clave”

GALLERY

Title: A certain Peter
(In Peer Gynt in which Ibsen would have wanted to write)

Characters: Many characters can be done with 5 actors and 2 actresses.

Stage setting: Does not require one.

Summary: 7 scenes that follow the life of a present Pedro inspired in the Peer Gynt of Ibsen, but with structure, characters and scenes that are completely original.

Type of theater: drama with humor.
Vital trajectory throughout the life and death, reality and fiction, the town and world, the country and the city… in search of an “authentic me”.

Productions:
- Showing in the RESAD Theater under the direction of Alberto Castrillo. 2003
- Season in the Galileo of Madrid Theater. 2004
- Tour through festivals in Spain and Europe, including those in Braislava and the Ibsen of Norway Festival. 2004
- Programmed for the Dramatic Center in Oslo in August 2006.

Awards:
Young creation award from the Community of Madrid 2004.

The critics have said:
“It´s a modern piece, agile, well constructed in its complexity and well developed… In ‘A Certain Pedro’ there are hooligans, pimps, dreams of power, women who are betrayers before being betrayed, kings, assholes! and cannibals. And, over cynicism and lies, is a layer of aspiration and comprehension and harmony.”
Javier Villán. “El Mundo”

“Ramírez de Haro´s text shines for its intelligence, its irony, and its sensibility enlivened with precise harmonies.”
Juan Ignacio García Garzón. “ABC”

“’A Certain Pedro’ resembles a compendium of Latin characters, an amalgam of passion, frenzy, virility, sweat and sex which relates these characters to our tradition.”
Pratk.k of Bartislava