Celebrating 15 Years: The Master Key Unveils a Poetic Exploration of Biodiversity

The acclaimed visual theatre company, The Master Key, celebrates its 15th anniversary with a revival of their celebrated production, The Carnival of Animals. Inspired by Camille Saint-saëns’ timeless musical suite, this visually stunning performance blends object theater, movement, and visual poetry to create a unique sensory experience for audiences of all ages. The show runs until May 18th at the Matucana 100 Cultural Center.

A Theatrical Menagerie: Elephants, Jellyfish, and the Call to Reconnect

The Carnival of Animals features a diverse cast of creatures, from majestic elephants to ethereal jellyfish, graceful swans to darting dragonflies. Through innovative staging and evocative performances, the production invites viewers on a journey into the heart of the animal kingdom. More than just entertainment, the show serves as a poetic attention call emphasizing the urgent need to reconnect with nature and appreciate biodiversity. According to a recent UN report, biodiversity loss is accelerating at an unprecedented rate, threatening ecosystems worldwide. Productions like this play a vital role in raising awareness and inspiring action.

Crafting the Carnival: A symphony of Movement and Music

Álvaro morales, co-director of The Master Key, explains the creative process behind the show:

To create the animal carnival, we carry out a first period of listening and analysis of each musical piece, the sensations and suggestions that each generated us. In a second instance we began to improvise around each piece using various theatrical techniques such as shadow theater, manipulation of objects, dolls, clown, dance etc to see that discipline coudl better capture the essence of what we wanted to transmit. Defined each scene and each technique to use, the assembly process came, where we had to fit each movement in music as a choreography, accentuating next to the instruments, every moment of the work, highlighting sensations, atmospheres and games that were modulating the work by traveling from the surprising to the comic, the dramatic and the poetic.

Álvaro Morales, Co-director of The Master Key

This meticulous approach ensures that every gesture, every movement, is perfectly synchronized with the music, creating a seamless and captivating experience.

The Master Key: A Decade and a Half of Innovation

Since 2010, The Master Key has been a driving force in the national theater scene, developing a distinctive style that blends gestural theater, masks, clowning, dance, and visual arts. Their commitment to innovation and artistic excellence has earned them international recognition, with regular performances at festivals and theaters across the Americas, Asia, and Europe. In addition to pieces from Saint-Saëns, this version incorporates Macabre Dance and Claro de Luna by Claude Debussy, enriching the musical and visual landscape.

Performance Details

The cast includes Marcela Burgos Valdés, Magdalena Saitua Lecaros, Diego Acuña Gómez, and Juan Pablo Neira León, under the co-direction of Álvaro Morales Lifschitz and Edurne Rankin garcía.

Showtimes:

• Until May 18,2025
• Thursdays and Fridays: 8:00 p.m.
• Saturdays and Sundays: 7:00 p.m.

Tickets:

• General Admission: $8,000
• Students, Seniors, Under 12, and People with disabilities: $5,000
• Popular Thursday: $5,000

Location:

Main Theater – matucana 100 Cultural Center

Duration: 60 minutes

Tickets available at www.m100.cl