MADRID.- The theater director and actress Spanish Natalia Menéndez will receive tomorrow, February 6, at the French embassy in Spain the degree of Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters of France, a distinction that this country gives to people who have stood out for their creations in the field. artistic or literary or for the contribution they have made to the artistic and literary dissemination in the French country and in the world.
“I feel deep gratitude and it is an honor that one has to live up to,” said Menéndez, to whom the news of the concession reached him during the pandemic. The playwright is Franco-Spanish (her mother is French) and she has dual nationality.
“I thought of my mother when they told me about it, of the excitement it was going to give to my relatives there,” he remarked.
Trajectory of the Spanish edge
France has been a continuation in the life of Natalia Menéndez. An important figure in her life was her uncle Jean-Pierre Miquel, who served as administrator of the Comédie Française, where he has a theater named after her, and was artistic director of the Odéon Theater and the National Superior Conservatory. of Dramatic Art of France.
This strong French link has also been extended to tasks such as coach in cinema for French actors – who have worked in Spain – or writing theatrical versions of French authors.
“I admire French culture, its richness, its variety, its beautiful language,” said the director and actress, who throughout her career has brought French authors to the stage, as a director, inside and outside of Spain.
In this sense, he recalled a production by Molière in Uruguay, another in Catalan by Alfred de Musset, You don’t play with love; from Topor in Madrid, Winter under the table; by Marguerite Duras, The English Mistress; and Yasmina Reza, Three versions of life.
As an actress, the last play she performed before turning to directing was Don Juan by Molière.
The granting of recognition by the French Government joins other notable awards in Natalia Menéndez’s career, such as the El Ojo Crítico and Ágora awards at the Almagro Festival for The discreet lover, both in 1996; the Celcit medal in 2013 and admission in 2017 to the Civil Order of Alfonso
Source: Europa Press
