Juan Hernandez was surprised to see a photographer at the swinger’s club

DETAILS

Matadora presented by Trepan Theatre
Pumphouse Theatre
Wednesday, May 27 - Saturday, June 6

More in: Theatre

At the risk of sounding sexist, the bullfight seems, to me, a masculine activity. I mean, what woman would want to taunt, torture and eventually kill a bull before legions of cheering fans? As it turns out, lots of them. Much to my surprise, women matadors have been taunting and torturing as far back as the 1770s. The Spanish painter and printmaker Francisco Goya, for example, depicted “torera” Nicolasa Escamilla, who fought in Madrid in 1776, in one of his lithographs. It’s this history that is celebrated in Trepan Theatre’s latest production, Matadora.

Not surprisingly, there were many critics of female bullfighters who believed that a woman in the bullring was an affront to the manly and noble tradition.

For example, in the encyclopedic Los toros, one of the most important works on the history of bullfighting, author José María de Cossío writes, “The activity of the little lady bullfighters is a parody of the bullfight… I will attend summarily to this history, and with the repugnance of anyone who has to deal with a subject that is in conflict with Nature itself.”

While women bullfighters may not have won much respect with the traditional critics, they did sell seats and were popular with audiences.

Matadora takes a comic look at bullfighting and, in particular, women in the bullring. “Last summer I was trying to think of a new idea for a show, and I saw a book on bullfighting on my shelf. I thought, ‘I wonder if there were any women bullfighters?’ So, I started researching and found there were lots,” explains playwright and cast member Aaron Coates.

Coates focused his attention on one bullfighter, La Reverte, who started her career in the 1890s, and takes centre ring in Matadora. La Reverte actually drew some praise in the press of the day. One journalist wrote, “She has a history of success that cannot be matched by any two male bullfighters of her time.”

However, around the peak of La Reverte’s popularity in 1908, the Spanish government prohibited women from bullfighting. That’s when La Reverte came forward with an astonishing announcement. She said she wasn’t a woman at all, but a man in drag.

“There’s a lot of debate if she was really a woman, a man, a hermaphrodite, a man who had a sex change operation,” Coates says.

Muriel Feiner, for example, who wrote a history of women and bullfighting, insists La Reverte was a woman who claimed to be a man only so she could continue her career in the bullring.

Whether or not La Reverte was man or woman, one thing is certain: She only experienced success while fighting as a female. After a brief stint as a male matador, she essentially faded into obscurity until 1934, when she made a short and unsuccessful return to the bullring.

Matadora tells the story of a young woman in the 1920s, Juanita Cruz, who wants to learn the art of bullfighting, but no one will teach her except La Reverte. “The style of show we do is very influenced by clown, physical comedy and parody,” explains Coates.

In fact, Trepan Theatre itself was born from a trip to Paris where Coates studied physical comedy, clowning and mask. He says Trepan’s style of performance breaks down the barrier between actors and audience. “The audience is always a part of show. We never pretend they’re not there; that gives the show a certain spirit,” he explains.

Coates says the characters in Matadora are ridiculous. “The story is actually narrated by triplet Spanish brothers telling Juanita’s story. There’s a whole lot of wackiness going on,” he laughs.

“One of the things we love to do with our shows is to take something very difficult to stage and bring it to life. To try and create a bullfight was a challenge,” he adds, noting that the cast of three takes on 12 to 15 different characters, including the bulls.

To prepare for the show, the cast watched bullfighting documentaries and even brought in a dance coach who worked with them on the tango and the paso doble — a dance in which one partner represents the matador, the other the matador’s cape.

“We got a whole new appreciation for bullfighting, as well as a revulsion,” he says, adding he once saw a bullfight in Mexico. “I couldn’t take watching the bull die. On one hand, you can appreciate the beauty of what they do — a ballet with a large animal that could kill them at any time — but, at the same time, they’re actually torturing the bull. We address that in the story.”

The cast includes Coates, Cheryl Hutton and Calgary clown Alice Nelson, under the direction of Trevor Rueger. Coates says Trepan Theatre works show-to-show and has no plans, at this point, of creating a full season, but the company will head out on a tour of Fringe festivals in Saskatchewan with Matadora

As for the battle of women in the bullring, the ban on female matadors was finally lifted, permanently, in 1974.