Digital programme: Entrañas (Insides)

Performers 
Izaskun Fernández and Julián Sáenz-López

Creative team
Creators and Directors Izaskun Fernández and Julián Sáenz-López
Script and Dramaturgs Izaskun Fernández and Julián Sáenz-López
Lighting and Set Designer El Patio Teatro
Costume Designer Martín Nalda
Composer Nacho Ugarte
Lighting and Sound Engineer Diego Solloa
Photographer Clara Larrea
Graphic Designer Diego Solloa

Producer Ana Sala for Ikebanah Artes Escénicas 
With thanks to Alejandro López, David Azpurgua, Jorge Padín and Momo Enciso
Images by Clara Larrea Quemada.

Presented by the Barbican in association with MimeLondon.
This project is supported in part by a grant from Acción Cultural Española (AC/E), a state agency.

Post-show talk, Thu 8 Feb
Hosted by Eva Martinez and BSL-interpreted by Anna Kitson. 
Free to same-day ticket holders.

Members event: Puppets in Theatre – Bringing New Life to the Stage, Tue 13 Feb
Discover more about the imaginative art of puppetry at this MimeLondon in-conversation event with Basil Twist and Phelim McDermott, facilitated by Cheryl Henson. 
Free for Members

Entrails: each of the organs contained in the main cavities of the human body, the most intimate or essential part of a thing or subject.

The human body is a fascinating and beautiful enigma. Knowledge of the body and the scientific language to describe it provide inexhaustible sources of poetic material to bring to the stage. For a long time, we dreamed of staging our own anatomy class, putting the body on the table and translating science into a theatre of objects, touching the universal themes that move us: life, love and death.

In late 2019 we started to think about our next production. We wanted to talk about love and the connection of feelings with organs, and how emotions could reflect on our bodies.

The pandemic arrived in early 2020. There was a strong sense of fragility from realising that our bodies were easily extinguishable or punished by an invisible virus. This pushed us to explore more about the body and its most essential parts. We spent a lot of time researching and reading old books on anatomy and found that the scientific language had a lot of poetry to it. Once we were able to travel again, we continued working on our theme while driving and touring through Spain and Europe. Many things and changes had happened around us. We realised we needed to talk more about two aspects of mankind: the physical body and the inner life. 

Izaskun Fernández
Performer, Creator and Director
Izaskun Fernández has a degree in Artistic Pottery from the Superior School of Arts and Design in La Rioja. Her theatre career began in 2004, performing in several styles and genres. She has twice won the Best Actress award at the Young Theatre Festival in La Rioja, Spain. In 2010 she created El Patio Teatro with Julián Sáenz-López, and in the same year they premiered their first show, A Mano (By Hand) in which theatre, puppetry and modelling came together. The show was widely awarded and acclaimed by critics and audiences and has been touring in Spain and internationally continuously since then. Subsequent works by the company include Hubo (Once) in 2018, Conservando Memoria (Preserving Memories) in 2019, and Entrañas (Insides) in 2023 Entrañas (Insides) in 2023 and Feriantes in 2024.

Julián Sáenz-López 
Performer, Creator and Director
Julián Sáenz-López developed as an artist and trained in theatre in Logroño, La Rioja, studying acting, technical set up, lighting, audio, and theatre direction. Since 2005 he has worked for several Spanish theatre companies as an actor and technician, and has received a number of prizes at theatre festivals in Spain. In 2010 he created El Patio Teatro with Izaskun Fernández, and in the same year they premiered their first show, A Mano (By Hand) in which theatre, puppetry and modelling came together. The show was widely awarded and acclaimed by critics and audiences and has been touring in Spain and internationally continuously since then. Subsequent works by the company include Hubo (Once) in 2018, Conservando Memoria (Preserving Memories) in 2019, Entrañas (Insides) in 2023 and Feriantes in 2024.

Nacho Ugarte
Composer
Nacho Ugarte began as a self-taught musician and then trained in Modern Music at the ESMUC (Escuela Superior de Música de Cataluña). He continued his studies at L’AULA de Música Moderna y Jazz del Liceo de Barcelona, EMMB Escuela de Música Moderna de Badalona and Taller de Música Moderna de Logroño, as well as later in composition, arrangements, orchestration, music production and sound design. While living in Havana, he received training in Cuban and Caribbean music, as well as Latin music and MPB with the Brazilian guitarist, composer and singer Euclydes Mattos. He has worked regularly with companies such as Ultramarinos de Lucas, El Patio Teatro, El Perro Azul, Centro Dramático Nacional, Compañía Nacional de Teatro Clásico, Sapo Producciones, Diegopergo Films, Tiramisú Producciones, MedioBitter and with directors and playwrights such as Jorge Padín, Pepe Viyuela, Diego Pérez González, Ángela Palacios, Elvira Valgañón, Nuria Rubió and Martín Nalda, among others. Other appearances include solo performances and as a member of groups including InventaRio, Joglares del Sitio, Mirando al Sur, Mulata Groove, Edu y Las Roblegordo, Porka’s Band, EMB Son, and The Coris, and alongside musicians such as Xavi Lozano, Aleix Tobías, Martí Serra, Guillem Aguilar, Paco Manzanares, Marc Vila, Roqui Albero, Jaime Basulto, David González, Pablo Martín, Elena Aranoa, Iván Boraita, Esperanza Madorrán and Elisa Tobalina. Nacho Ugarte performs on guitar, piano, guitar-bass and bass, and occasionally percussion, bouzouki or Cuban tres.

MimeLondon is a new curatorial project created by Helen Lannaghan and Joseph Seelig, directors of London International Mime Festival (LIMF), which ended in 2023 after five decades of award-winning success. MimeLondon will support occasional seasons of contemporary visual theatre, in collaboration with different partner venues. 

For its first series in London, which runs from 12 January to 17 February 2024, the Barbican, the National Theatre, Sadler’s Wells and Shoreditch Town Hall are hosting eight productions new to London, the work of four overseas groups, and four UK-based companies co-commissioned by London International Mime Festival in its final year. A series of workshops organised in association with the London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art (LAMDA) and Shoreditch Town Hall is taking place during the same period.

mimelondon.com