The Formentera Council's Office of Culture reports that this weekend the local cinema (Sala de Cultura) will host two performances of stage productions. Tomorrow, Saturday March 4, El Somni Produccions brings its “Un tramvia anomenat desig,” a recasting of “A Streetcar named Desire”. Admission for the 55-minute show, which gets going at 9.00pm, is five euros for adults and three euros for anyone under 25.

Clinging to the past and her own bourgeois pride, Blanche Dubois pays a visit to her sister Stella, a vivacious woman who, together with her rather gruff husband, Stanley Kowalski, stands firmly in the present. Tennessee Williams' production is chock full of neurotic, fierce and tormented characters, who, every one of them, hold out hope they will catch that last train, the one known as Desire. Sergi Baos adapts and directs this acclaimed Williams piece.

Baos claims his overriding inspiration in choosing the play was its treatment of “that fragile balance we all occupy. Any old occurrence, however small, can set off the bomb within—unleash the violence that's inside all of us. Lorca, Büchner, Koltès, Mouawad and Cela understood it as well. They're all aboard this 'streetcar' too. Any human story is a story of violence”.

Theatre for kids
Sunday March 5, the little ones can look forward to Musics Viatgers' production of “Els Músics de Bremen” (“Town Musicians of Bremen” as it is called in English). The free show, which starts at 6.00pm in the cinema, is based on the traditional Brothers Grimm tale of the friendship and resolve of four abandoned animals: a mule, dog, cat and rooster. When their future as home-body pets suddenly becomes uncertain, the four decide to start an orchestra and chase stardom in Bremen.

The original score from musicians/puppet-masters Brönnhilde Ekermans Visagie and Francesc Bonnín Socías is based on popular Balearic melodies. Buoyed by refreshingly quaint techniques of shadow play, Músics Viatgers take us to a world where bright lights and wild imagination are set against meticulously crafted aesthetic and music.

Members of the island's security council came together earlier today in a gathering which was co-chaired by Formentera Council president Jaume Ferrer and Palma's envoy on the island Maria Salom. The meeting was also attended by a bevy of CiF officials —vice-president Susana Labrador, presidential cabinet councillor Bartomeu Escandell, mobility councillor Rafael González and social welfare councillor Vanessa Parellada—, members of other parties, national security officers like Jaume Barceló, colonel of the Balearic Islands civil guard, José Manuel Mariscal de Gante, Eivissa's commissioner of the Spanish national police, along with individuals from the local police, civil protection and other emergency services on the island.

Describing the annual pre-summer encounter as a way to “take stock of the previous season and coordinate the security forces' joint efforts ahead the coming season,” Ferrer took the opportunity to welcome the Govern Balear's recently appointed Formentera delegate and share with her the key points affecting safety on the island, like entry and exit through the la Savina port and drug trafficking. Ferrer said that too few agents on the local police force was one reason greater inter-agency coordination would be needed.

Civil guard base in la Savina
The president cited repeated calls for a permanent boat on the Guardia Civil's sea fleet. In that respect, Ferrer said both Colonel Barceló and Ms Salom had alluded to the possibility of stationing the force's Pitiüsa-based watercraft in la Savina. The Council president openly welcomed the possibility and said that talks were already under way with the Balearic port authority and other authorities to make it a reality.

For her part, the Govern's envoy celebrated the “spirit of teamwork” among meeting attendees which she said would “guarantee a safer Formentera and ensure all the agencies here today are more efficient and effective”. She also said that the positive outcome of experiences last summer would cement the regional ministry's support for continued cooperation between Italian carabinieri and local security forces on Formentera. In addition, Salom announced the Govern's plan to sign off on a cross-agency convention to stop gender violence.