Personal information

Surname: Be
First name: Carlos
Other versions of the name: Juan Carlos Blanco Garcia
Born: 4 November 1974, Vilanova i Geltrú, Barcelona, Spain

Biography

Carlos Be is one of Spain’s most prolific contemporary writers. Born in Barcelona in 1974, he began a career in medicine, but then abandoned his studies to concentrate on theatre. He is a director as well as a playwright, most notably for the Zombie Theatre Company, with whom he produced Noel Road 25 in 2005. Carlos Be has won a number of awards for his work, including the Caja España Theatre Prize in 2001 for Noel Road 25 and the Born Theatre Prize in 2006 for Origami. Be often collaborates with theatre companies and directors abroad to stage his work internationally; for example, the first production of his award-winning play Origami took place in Prague. Similarly, Amén was first staged as a full production in Venezuela. Be is a regular contributor to the online scenic arts magazine Artezblai. He also has a very comprehensive website – http://carlosbe.blogspot.com/ [accessed November 2011] – containing texts of his plays and information in Spanish about productions.

Themes

Carlos Be’s plays typically explore issues such as abuses of power, religious hypocrisy and flawed human relationships. A number of his plays focus on homosexual characters, dramatising conflicts these characters have with one another or with the repressive society in which they live. The relationships between his characters are often very troubled, defined by cruelty, power struggles and indifference.

Style

Carlos Be’s plays often have fragmented narratives, as time jumps back and forth, or as the action moves from one place to another.

Plays in the database

• Origami (c.2006) / Origami
• Amén (c.2006) / Amen
• Noel Road 25: a genius like us (2001) / 25 Noel Road: A Genius Like Us
• Woman in a taxi crossing New York (2010) / Woman in a taxi crossing New York
• Llueven vacas (c.2008) / It's Raining Cows

Useful reading and websites

• Carlos Be's website contains a huge amount of information about his work. It can be found at http://carlosbe.blogspot.com/ [accessed November 2011] (Online Publication) (in Spanish)

Entry written by Gwynneth Dowling. Last updated on 30 November 2011.

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