Jordi Casanovas’s new play, Menú cerrado, brings three lifelong friends together for dinner at the restaurant of one of them, a chef with two Michelin stars. Beneath the jokes and familiar macho talk, the men confront fears and resentments they have never learned to share.
Directed by Carlos Aladro, the production stars Carlos Santos, Raúl Fernández de Pablo and Nacho López. It begins performances at Madrid’s Teatro Infanta Isabel on November 6. The play was presented this week at the Association of Chefs and Pastry Chefs of Madrid.
Aladro describes the work as a comedy about friendship among men raised within conventional patriarchal norms, and about their difficulty expressing vulnerability. The cast says audiences should approach it with an open mind: although humor is central, the story also invites reflection.
López said the play is intended to entertain rather than lecture, telling the story of three believable men in whom viewers may recognize aspects of themselves. Fernández de Pablo described theater as a mirror and a space for expressing things that can be difficult to say in society.
The play also nods to Casanovas’s earlier work, Jauría, which placed audiences before the case of the gang rape committed by the group known as La Manada. In Menú cerrado, one character has attended a performance of La Jauría, a reference to the indignation and surprise the earlier play provoked among some male spectators. Santos praised the new script for combining satire and reflection while prompting audiences to ask questions rather than look for ready-made answers.
Sources: El País Cultura.