MASKARADA: AN EXAMPLE OF A BASQUE CARNIVAL THEATRE

Maskarada is the popular theatre that takes place in the streets of villages of Soule (Basque Country) every year in carnival and sprint. It represents an example of traditional street theatre in the Basque language.

It is the most representative work of  Basque folklore. Every year, a town of Soule is the one that is responsible for preparing the maskarada. This street theatre combines drama, music and Basque traditional dances and it becomes a show that is prolonged during a day. In the morning, people do roadblocks in front of the village in which is going to be represented the spectacle. So the actors can´t to go on, but this is part of the show; in this moment the actors dance roadblocks dance for open the way. After that they move to the town square. In the afternoon the show continues with many other dances.

 The members of the maskarada are divided in two groups: “the red” (they are the ones who represent the good) and “the black” (who represent the evil). Those two sides have different roles: “the red” try to dance while “the black” bother them all the time. There is a main character named Pitxu (the black side) which is funny in the theatre because he is a drunk and womanizer. In addition there are other characters as Txerrero, Zamaltzain, Gatüzain…