The 'Imagine' Circus Reinvents Itself in Sohrlin with the Voice of Antonio Banderas

The 'Imagine' circus in Málaga is now a reality. Sohrlin, the performing arts and entertainment venue driven by Antonio Banderas and Domingo Merlín, revives this show starting May 24 with a major new feature: the voice of the most internationally recognized actor from Málaga will serve as the narrative thread of the story. A spoken narration, written and voiced by Banderas himself, will guide the audience to understand who the characters are, what their challenges are, and the relationships they have with each other and individually. "Before, it was a more nebulous, different, much more ethereal story, and now, it is much more concrete," he explains about the show that could already be seen during the 2023 Christmas season at the Soho Caixabank Theater. The actor adds that his narration will include touches of "certain" irony and others of "pure and hard" poetry.

Banderas and Merlín, producers of this first show on the stage of the La Misericordia neighborhood, ensure that Mr. Imagine's dream hotel will be in constant transformation. "That is one of the advantages of being the authors of the show. We ourselves are the ones who will dictate where it will grow," Banderas states in an interview with SUR after a preview of some acts of the play for the press. An evolution of the show that makes it "very exciting" for the producers because it becomes a "live show" in which "they do not get complacent."

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The producers emphasize the technical complexity of Imagine. "I have done this in seven days. It is very technically difficult because everything is linked. When you trigger from sound, you trigger sound, video, light, all together," explains Banderas, who assures that each change involves added hours of work. "The show has this complexity with the idea that when we see it, it appears very simple," he defends.

These locals knew that the first premiere of a homegrown production in Sohrlin had to bear both their signatures. "It was produced entirely here and is very much related to the project. In the first production, it made no sense not to participate together," Merlín assures. A production that, as he explains, serves as a breeding ground for artists to be discovered by major circus companies. Imagine combines trapeze artists, tumblers, jugglers, and aerial acrobats on straps and bars with musical artists and dancers.

The challenge presented by the re-launch of Imagine is to attract the public from the center to the La Misericordia neighborhood. "It will depend on the word of mouth from people who come and see that Sorhlin is not just a theater," points out Banderas, who hopes to have three or four shows at the same time, including exhibitions, immersive shows, and even gastronomy. "People need to understand the potential of Sohrlin, but for that, it needs to be operational," says the actor, aware that this takes time. "Suddenly you enter through a school and you immerse yourself in that Imagine universe, which is a bit what surprises. We are experimenting with that, which we also call the immersive experience," Merlín adds.

The immersive experience mentioned by Merlín was announced in the sensory and gastronomic areas. Something they are working on "in the near future." "We will have elaborate catering because there really is a gastronomic experience with Imagine," Merlín specifies. The producers state that hot food requires different types of permits, but they do not rule out the possibility of agreements with Banderas' restaurants later on.

'Imagine. The path to dreams' ends on July 27. A date that is not final. "The idea is that it lasts longer, but the public will dictate that," confirms Banderas, who explains that if the public does not respond, they will have to think about why that was the case and what the next step is. "But we are not going to give up," the producers affirm. "We trust in the media, we trust in the posters we are hanging all over Málaga, we trust in our social networks, we trust in everything, absolutely everything. We have no other choice."