Last weekend the Tate Modern in London hosted a new production of Mori el Merma, which was first performed in 1978, and emerged out of a collaboration between the surrealist painter Joan Miró and La Claca, an experimental theatre troupe from Barcelona, headed by Joan Baixas. In the new revision,
‘… Joan Baixas evokes the critical spirit of Mori el Merma and recovers Miró’s original idea to make a street parade in the Catalonian tradition. Baixas’s work insists on the idea of the absurdity of power, the abuses of the tyrant and the impertinences of dictators, themes which are ever present and must be critised and
denounced.‘The puppets are replicas made under supervision and control of the Succesió Miró SL and range from giants with the heads of monsters, grotesque torsos and six-foot-long arms to creatures that whisper and
squeal as if Miró’s free-form shapes had to leapt to life.’
In an article in the Guardian, Baixas comments that the play has been retitled Merma Never Dies, because almost 30 years later, Merma is alive and well:
‘The name is unimportant because, unfortunately, there are many Mermas now. In recent years we have seen leaders who wage wars with lies and who play games with democracy. The least we can do is laugh at them.’
I’ve come across the following accounts and photos of the performance and parade. It looks pretty bizarre!
Cronicas desde Londres: photos and video
Yahoo News collection of photos
No-necked Monster’s photos and video
