In Spanish with English surtitles. PRESAS (Prisoners) is a powerful, award-winning Spanish choral drama written by renowned playwrights and screenwriters Ignacio del Moral and Verónica Fernández. Originally created in 2005 for the Royal School of Dramatic Arts (RESAD) and produced by the Centro Dramático Nacional in Madrid, it has since become a cult text in contemporary Spanish theatre. PRESAS is set in a women’s prison in post-war Spain in the late 1940s, where cold, hunger and cruelty shape everyday life. The lives of a diverse group of inmates are irreversibly altered by the imminent celebration of the Jubilee of San Perpetuo, held once every ten years. As a tradition, this milestone promises a bishop’s indult—a promising a pardon for only one of them. The announcement sparks intense anticipation and brings simmering tensions to the surface, both among the prisoners and within the wider prison community, pushing them to their limits as they are forced to take sides in their desperate struggle for freedom. Despite the sensitive historical and political context in which the play unfolds, the story focuses above all on the prisoners’ lives: on the reasons that led to their imprisonment, the reasons why they deserve to be released, and the way the prison’s harsh conditions awaken the most basic survival instincts. These experiences grant them a shared humanity that transcends their differences, their pasts and their ideologies, while also revealing a vulnerability that draws the audience to them in a deeply compelling way. PRESAS is a tribute to freedom, to solidarity in the face of adversity, and a reminder that the wretched conditions endured by these women are still a reality in other parts of the world today.
Presas (Prisoners)
Location: Chaussée de Waterloo, 94, 1060 Saint-Gilles
