Manda patibularia.

Inspired by Vladimir Nabokov's novel 'Invitation to a Beheading', the play follows the last moments of a man condemned to death penalty. He is going to be beheaded but he does not know when. The prisoner is obsessed with the date of his execution and asks every visitor about this. Everybody, including the warden, hides this information from him. The prisoner is alternatively visited by the warden's daughter, his own mother, a new inmate, and by the warden; even a group of ghosts or visions haunts him. Amidst the nightmarish, carnivalesque ebbs and flows of visitors, the protagonist acts as a deluded philosopher. He alternates obsessive references to the date of his execution with deep (albeit weird) philosophical reflections. Faithful to their traditional exploration of marginal subjects, La Candelaria chooses as main character a true anti-hero, an underdog trapped in the power games of society. La Candelaria was founded in 1966 by a group of independent artists and intellectuals who came from experimental theater and the broader Colombian cultural movement. Directed by Santiago García, La Candelaria (www.teatrolacandelaria.org.co) is one of Colombian theater's most innovative agents, modernizing national drama while addressing popular audiences. By means of an ongoing exploration of national folklore, situations and characters, they have created some of Colombia's most compelling plays, some of them through the method of 'creación colectiva' ('collective creation'), addressing the acute social and political problems of their society. At the same time, they fostered the creation of Corporación Colombiana del Teatro and have developed a number of theoretical works that reflect upon dramatic creation, its methods and languages. Still nowadays, La Candelaria is committed to repertoire, experimentation, and discussion as fundamental elements to artistic creation. Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics