By Teatro Aleph Directed by Gabriela Olguín


  • Spanish
  • 75 minutes
  • General Audience

This is a new version of the play Érase una vez un rey, written by Oscar Castro just a few weeks before the military coup and now incorporating an updated, female perspective.

El Rey tells the story of three vagabonds who live in a garbage dump under a bridge on the banks of the Mapocho River, collecting all kinds of refuse. Tired of this situation, they dream of having a servant who does everything for them and of tasting just a little bit of the power of ordering someone around. Since they don’t have the money to hire anyone, they invent a game: playing king. They agree that, for a week, one of them will be king and will govern the others, using all the power a monarchy has while the others have to act as his slaves and servants.

Written by Oscar Castro, founder of Teatro Aleph, just before the military coup in 1973 and performed in concentration camps during the first few years of the dictatorship, this new version has an all-woman cast and includes the updates made by the playwright to the play in 2000. This adaptation is part of the repertoire of Teatro Aleph Chile, which represents the company in France and is directed by Gabriela Olguín.

Cast: Gabriela Olguín, Athenea Lagos and Camila Molina | Written by: Oscar Castro | Directed and adapted by: Gabriela Olguín | Choreography: Athenea Lagos | Sound: Nahuel Vásquez | Lighting: Rubén Casanova.

—It’s a play that can be interpreted in multiple ways and so appeals to different audiences. It has elements of a children’s story and the complexity of a historical record.

—It’s one of the new pieces by Teatro Aleph Chile, formed in 2013 as a branch of the legendary company now based in France.

The French Teatro Aleph’s official YouTube channel

El rey on social media

On Instagram, oscarcastroaleph

On Facebook, teatro.aleph.9

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