Spanish Plays...Ayy yi yiiii

Scene from El Mal Juventud

My program has an assignment called the “Cultural Passport” where we have to do all different things around Madrid to receive credit. By the end of the semester you need to have at least 7 items in your passport.  This sounds great in theory, but the annoying thing about it is that the events have to be things a typical tourist would not do. For example, going to a bullfight does not count. Going to a Real Madrid soccer game does not count. Going to a see a Spanish movie does not count. Going to certain museums that seem too touristy/don’t have a Spanish focus do not count. So, because they decided to make this somewhat frustrating for us students, they have an employee, Pablo, who is in charge of organizing activities to places that are allowed for the passport. With the program I have gone to 2 different plays. One was a series of small stories thrown into one play and the other told the story of 6 different characters and involved romance, alcoholism, as well as suicide. I have gone to plays in America, none too risqué, but I have still seen a decent amount. I don’t know what the norm is for plays in Spain but because of these 2 plays I have now seen 4 grown Spaniards completely naked. And, every time it surprises me.  In the first play I went to, these 2 couples were having lunch and then one of the couples left and the man pulled his pants off and did the dirty deed. Later on in the same play the woman is playing a person on the beach and gets completely naked. Shortly after a male actor walks around the stage…completely naked. Also, side note, I was sitting front row for that one. Scarring? Yes, probably. For the second play, called "El Mal Joventud", there were several dancing numbers.  During one of the songs, one of the actresses took her top off and made sexual movements on a bed.  Then, later on, two of the girl actresses get into a fight and start crying, which then leads to the two women taking their tops off and making out. Normal?  Finally, to end the play, an actress gets into a fight with one of the actors and is yelling at him to hit her.  As they are fighting it suddenly turns into a “let’s rip each other’s clothes off” scene.  They both got completely naked and then proceeded to have sex on stage.  Although I do appreciate the arts, I really thought it was just unnecessary for the actors to take their clothes off during certain scenes.  It seemed like the play was created by a boy who was trying to put all his hopes and dreams about what girls do at sleepovers into a 2-hour performance.  It just got annoying after a while.  I think that after these 2 theater experiences, I am going to take a break from Spanish plays for a while.