Strummer had mentioned both Lorca and Granada in his 1979 song Spanish Bombs on the London Calling Album. As Juan Alberto Salvatierra, the author, expresses in the prologue to the extended programme presentation:-
“[Having discovered Strummer was out in Granada led to] weeks of genuine obsession. I played the Clash’s albums on repeat … for me it was the stuff of mythology. Joe Strummer is no less mythological than Oedipus or Medea. Joe Strummer and (musician and journalist) Jesús Arias rambling through pine and olive trees in Vízar and Alfacar, is no less of a mythological journey than the one that the Argonauts took to Colchis…. I was setting out to dramatize a myth.”
An ardent Clash fan, Juan Alberto Salvatierra, still remembered those emotions when he wrote the challenging monologue play on the event, bringing it to life. He named it ‘Joe Strummer Takes A Walk’, as a homage to a film script title by Lorca:“Buster Keaton Takes a Walk”.
Juan Alberto Salvatierra at the 'Joe Sturmmer Takes a Walk' World Premiere
'Joe Strummer Takes a Walk' went on to win the 1st Ana Caro Theatre Award, convened by the Cervantes Theatre in London and Ediciones Antígona. As a result, the artistic director of the Cervantes Theatre, Jorge de Juan, decided to stage it, using the superb translation by Lauren Finch and performed to perfection by Robert Bradley, who has managed to convey the astonishing energy of Strummer, as he aptly describes in the Q & A:
Actor Robert Bradley: -
“A huge part of my personal prep into rehearsal was that idea to focus on that energy … he says himself…he sings, growls, dominates the stage like a wild beast so if you have even seen Joe Strummer at a concert, that is exactly how he acts, he does not do anything by half measures, even when he was in his later years, even though people didn’t realize … in the late 90s and early noughties when he started playing with The Mescaleros, even in those years the young guys just couldn’t keep up with him, because when he was out there on the stage, he never did things by halves it was always 100%, which is great for a touch point of character as an actor… this is great, you get to feel like a rock star on stage.
Also, throughout the course of the play that’s a lot to take on and theatrically, when you’re taking a character on a journey as well, it’s fine when you’re on stage at a punk concert, but when you want to take this guy from highs to lows, to questions to answers, from space to space , you have to carry that energy with it, but where does that energy go?
Does it go to finding Lorca? There’s a bit where he says “I’m going to dig this whole place up!” and then it’s “Ah, I need a drink!” and that’s a kind of internal contradiction that’s quite true to Joe Strummer as well…you rock on stage and you give it all this… then you stop and say… ‘you guys in the front can you just stop doing that… step back… step back … give this guy some space, right?’ And then here we go… AAAAH! So that energy is part of who he is… so it’s great to experience all that and come into it , which is a lot to take on but actually it’s more about what do you do with that [energy], once it’s up there and how do you take that energy through the journey that is in the play? That’s the thing that is interesting to see! What happens when a guy who only can only live at 100%, can’t live at 100% anymore? That is the question.”
Jake Clifford as 'horse' and Robert Bradley as Joe Strummer
The play has two onstage characters, one being Joe Strummer and the other a vision of a horse (played with panache by Jake Clifford) . The ‘horse’ costume is remarkable with the horse-mask made by the artist and sculptor Ángel Haro, a beautiful object in itself. The elements offered by this presence add a mysterious edge to the monologue giving it an other wordly feel at times.
Jorge de Juan. Artistic Director
There was an earlier version of the play during Covid that was streamed online. In it, Bradley spoke directly to camera. Adapting the play then to be back on a stage required some solutions film being such a different medium from theatre. Jorge de Juan – Theatrical Director and founder of the Spanish Theatre Company: -
“It was difficult, but as cinema is not the same as theatre so it is a different way of acting because on video all the dialogue was directed to camera s in this case we used the recorder [ he carries in his hand]- some of you don’t know that Strummer had a programme on BBC named London Calling so he was used to doing this kind of thing, as he would record a lot of thoughts and ideas that he had, so that’s why Juan Alberto took this idea of doing the monologue to the recorder. IN that way, for us, during the reading (online) it was easy to communicate with the audience, because we had the close ups and everything. [Initially], we found that dealing with this on stage, using the recorder was a bit difficult in the beginning until Bob (actor) found a solution and was able to deal with it. For us that was the main issue we had.”
Joe Strummer was a voracious reader, and Federico García Lorca featured high on his list and was among his favourites and the phrase that Salvatierra writes and repeats in the play “All poetry is melancholic” comes from those readings. The Spanish connection for Strummer was further increased by having shared a London squat for a time with a Spanish girlfriend, Paloma Romero, the future Slits drummer, known as Palmolive. In Spanish Bombs, Strummer wrote “Spanish songs in Granada,on Ma corazón [ my heart]”
Joe Strummer
Strummer may have not found the remains of Lorca, but what he lost in shovelling in vain, he gained in fame for his efforts. The City Hall spokeswoman of Granada, María José Anguita, has announced that a square has been identified by the committee of honours and distinctions, to be named Plaza Joe Strummer in his honour. Strummer went to Granada in 1985, not long after he sacked the guitarist, singer and songwriter Mick Jones from the band in 1983. In an MTV interview, he revealed that he had come to regret it, so it was traumatic for him and probably, in grief, he felt the need to get away for a while.
Snapshot of Strummer and Jesús Arias in Granada in 1985 and Reboert Bradley as Joe Strummer in the play
Forty-three-year old Juan Alberto Salvatierra was born in Algeciras. He gained a degree in acting, stage direction and Dramaturgy from the Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático of Malaga, which led to a clutch of awards for his work. This included co-writer with Gracias Morales on ‘La Grieta, entre animals salvajes’ 2008 (The Crevice, between Savage Animals) “ The King of Algeciras ( 2002) and “Rabbits, Vultures and Dinosaurs. In 2006, he joined the Remiendo Teatro. Currently, he teaches at his alma mater.
It is a feat for Bradley to perform this monologue with no available autocue, as he had on the online streaming version, but it gains in intensity. The set is simple and there is moving projection of olive groves that fades away, sadly, a static image of the projection would probably add to the continuity, as would more selective lighting, with which, out of the dark, you could suddenly witness the image of the horse adding to its effect. A monologue is an interesting proposition as with one main actor, there is a certain freedom for the performer. As Jorge de Juan has pointed out, in these productions you have to trust your actor:
“This is your play, do whatever you want! If you trust in [your actor] you also know that one day he will do one thing and, on another day, he is going to change this because he’s feeling it and because he has to feel what the audience are giving to him.”
Robert Bradley
Everyone at the World Premiere of the play at the Cervantes theatre on Sept 21st was excited to experience live theatre once again.
The actor Robert Bradley:
“Now we have an audience, a higher authority than either of us, to experience what it feels like to be in front of that audience, to find those moments, so … we know what the play is about, so it’s really about those little moments of adaptation and trying to find those things, so … you ought to buy tickets for next week as well, so you can keep track of how this play develops!”
JOE STRUMMER TAKES A WALK by Juan Alberto Salvatierra will be on at the Cervantes Theatre from Tuesday to Saturdays until October 16th 2021.
Author Juan Alberto Salvatierra
Translated by L. Finch
Cast Robert Bradley and Jake Clifford
Director Jorge de Juan
Set Designer Ángel Haro
