Song of First Desire

'Why do you never speak of the past?'

In present-day Madrid, Camelia stands in the middle of her unkempt garden, trying to remember something. Her twin children live with her, bearing the responsibility of her care with the same laziness with which they tend the garden. When they hire a live-in carer, his presence threatens a family unit already at breaking point.

In 1968, under Franco's regime, Margarita fears for the life of her son Juan, whose university activism has garnered the attention of a government official. When she shows up at the official's house, her presence threatens to unearth truths which the regime has attempted to stifle. When forgetting the crimes of the past is enshrined in the law, what does it take for a family to reckon with generations of secrets?

This edition includes a Spanish language version of the play translated by Jorge Muriel.

'A complex work from a masterful writer.'—Artshub

'Epic in its transgenerational scope and the profundity of its questions, yet it also shrinks to taut family drama'—Sydney Morning Herald