La celosa de sí misma / Jealous of Herself
How can one be Jealous of Herself? An intriguing question, many must agree. Psychoanalysts, scholars, the FBI have been busy for over a century deciphering the enigmatic shifts in people’s psyches. Yet, they must have forgotten that Tirso de Molina’s play, Jealous of Herself, has been waiting for its time in the archives since the early modern times! Our little and cozy theatre, The London T, explores the soul-tearing questions of the ego, the id, and the chaos of one’s being by taking a psychoanalytic twist on the comedic drama from 17th century Spain – La Celosa de Si Misma / Jealous of Herself (1622 – 1623). Resurrected in 2021, the Madrid streets of de Molina’s years become infused with tortures of one’s psyche.
The London T collaborated with The British Psychological Society to scrutinise each character’s flaws and inherent needs, so the performance is likely to be a heated one. After excitedly arriving on the scene of the cosmopolitan Madrid, the naive Melchor is enchanted by a woman, in a veil, or – more precisely – by her hand (behind the mask, his fiancee, whom he rejects). Melchor’s obsessive heart is thus possessed . Together with his companion, Ventura, our traveler embarks on his manic quest to find the object of his desires, despite being engaged, but is confronted by two glimmering delicate hands – those of the dear Magdalena and her faithful friend, Angela. Gazes, sighs and lies fill the stage as we witness their childhood traumas play on stage.
Could Melchor be suffering from maternal deprivation in his childhood? Is it his insecurity, low self-esteem that haunts him in his sleep as he is dreaming of a stranger’s hand? Perhaps, even objectophilia? Erotomania? Many questions, but many answers. It is a comedy, a comedy of deception, charms and amor a primera vista, so you can laugh it off. Yet, the play will leave you with a ripe analysis of Magdalena’s BPD, Melchor’s aboulomania, and Ventura’s hypomania. Nothing is as funny as it first seems, just like everything is not what it appears.
