OFELIA VEGETARIANA
Ofelia Vegetariana reinterprets the female character from Hamlet—originally presented by Shakespeare as innocent and submissive—from a contemporary perspective: Ofelia is a decomposed princess. She fragments her body in a constant trance, allowing the monster within her to emerge. Simultaneously, the character plunges into the past, getting lost in a suspended present. She is Ofelia and all the women who came before her, rooted in the body she inhabits. In this piece, the performer evokes her ancestors: the Roma, the Muslim, the carnivore. It is in this sense that “flesh” (a constant theme in the English playwright’s work) is revisited through vegetarianism as both conflict and anxiety in today’s Ofelia.
La Turba
OFELIA VEGETARIANA
About the Piece
This story unfolds in the protagonist’s passage through limbo. After drowning in the river, Ofelia wanders between life and death. During this journey, she hopelessly searches for Hamlet while the voices of her father Polonius and brother Laertes echo in her mind. Ofelia cannot stop acting, she refuses to stop being. A character lost, devoured by the elements, digging into her own grave to find the reason for her existence.
Trayectory
Colombo International Festival 2025 Sri Lanka
Parade of Winners 2023 Mongolia
Royal Monastery of Santa Ana, Ávila 2023 Spain
Bacau Festival 2022 Romania
Nandimukh Festival 2022 Bangladesh
International Theatre Festival of Alexandria, Best Actress Award and Jury Mention 2022 Egypt
FAKI Festival 2021 Croatia
International Theatre, Circus and Dance Festival Ciudad Real 2020 Spain
Clasicoff Festival Madrid 2019 Spain
Nuevas Tendencias Festival Mendoza 2018 Argentina
Escénika Festival Concepción 2018 Chile
FAUNA Festival 2017 Argentina
ARTISTIC AND TECHNICAL CREDITS
Creation and Performance: Carlota Berzal
Assistant Director and Dramaturgy: Ricardo Mena
Choreographic Assistance: Rhea Volij
Music: Carlos Lecaros
Lighting Design: Lamberto Arévalo
Costume Design: Mariana C.R. Suárez
Production: La Turba Company
This artist, trained in contemporary dance, performing arts, and action-based artistic practices such as performance, gives her all as the sole actress of the piece, transforming into Shakespeare’s Ophelia in a performance that evokes anguish, rage, rebellion, but also fragility, exhaustion, and at times fear—of others and of what may come from within. A work of great value and complexity.
(Sonia López- Proyecto Duas )
The protagonist remains on stage throughout the performance, and her physical presence makes it almost impossible to look away. The incidental music—ranging from flamenco-style Spanish guitars to contemporary electronic soundscapes—is effective and dynamic, as is the lighting design, which adds color and force to each scene. But ultimately, everything rests on the body, highlighted in Carlota Berzal’s compelling interpretation of a piece as complex as it is unique. The rhythm is vertiginous and extreme, as is Ofelia’s journey through the otherworld—a non-world from which there is no escape, where the only thing she clings to is the denial of death.
(Patricia Vázquez – Espectáculos de acá)
Ofelia Vegetariana is both an ode and a tribute to the female character, her role in tragedy, and the expressive potential of dance and the body. In just over forty minutes, Berzal moves us, seduces us, provokes us—conveying joy and pain, tenderness and fear. Ofelia becomes a goddess, taking her final bow crowned with blue lights. A simple yet surprising production, centered on the body; a visceral and original proposal featuring the haunting music of Carlos Lecaros, delving into the instincts of womanhood and humanity and their need to manifest, to become.
(Susana Inés Pérez – En Platea)
To express this form of female rebellion—at times deeply introspective—the Seville-born performer uses every available tool, each one truly remarkable, beginning with an intense facial work made more poignant by carefully crafted lighting, evoking the intimacy of a cinematic close-up. Her voice moves through varied, unsystematized registers, while dance and movement masterfully map her emotional transformation—from pain to rage, and from there to catharsis. Her admirable ability to spin continuously, accompanied by the rustle of her voluminous costume, speaks of a journey. A flight to nowhere—or perhaps to the core of the chaos that envelops her. With the hybrid language that characterizes her company La Turba, founded in 2014, and through which she has created pieces such as Filipo and Todo lo que no soy, Carlota Berzal delivers a suggestive and widely acclaimed solo performance.
(Rosalía Gómez – Diario de Sevilla)