The Culture Department is programming an inclusive play in Benidorm to bring theater closer to people with disabilities

Benidorm City Council's Culture department, in collaboration with the National Organization for the Blind (ONCE) and the podcast "Algo Mejor será peor," has scheduled a fully inclusive theatrical performance of the adaptation of "The Little Prince" for June 14th, to bring the theater experience closer to people with disabilities. The initiative was presented this Friday by the Councillor for Culture, Jaime Jesús Pérez; the director of ONCE in Benidorm, Vicente Vázquez; and Jorro, the podcast host. They announced that tickets to attend this performance are now on sale at www.entradasatualcance.com for €4, including booking fees. Jaime Jesús Pérez explained that, specifically, a dramatised reading of this Antoine de Saint-Exupéry classic, adapted and directed by Eduardo Gutiérrez, will take place in the auditorium of the Benidorm Cultural Centre on June 14 at 7:00 p.m. He invited the audience, with or without physical or functional disabilities, to "enjoy this unique experience."

To make this performance fully inclusive, in collaboration with ONCE (National Commission for the Promotion of Culture and Education), attendees will be offered the option of wearing an eye mask (optional) to follow the performance under the same conditions as blind people. Likewise, there will be two sign language interpreters to make the reading accessible to people with hearing impairments, the councillor explained.

The head of Culture thanked both "Algo Mejor será peor" and ONCE for their "total willingness and collaboration" in the development of this performance, "a performance that we believe will be very enriching and whose purpose is to include and bring culture closer to everyone, but especially to those who sometimes find it more difficult to enjoy a play due to their disabilities."

The dramatised reading of "The Little Prince" is a project by Eduardo Gutiérrez and the Telón Corto company, which has been developed "with great success in Castilla-La Mancha and will arrive in Benidorm for its closing season," explained Jorro. He noted that it will be "the only city outside of La Mancha where the performance can be seen" and that it features "some of the best voice actors currently available in Spain," including a blind actress.

For his part, Vicente Vázquez stated that the programming "is the starting point for initiatives in which we want to collaborate with the City Council within our philosophy that culture should be for everyone" thanking the City Council "for also considering the 10% of the population who have some type of disability" in designing its cultural programming.

For this reason, the director of ONCE expressed his hope that this will be "the first of many" accessible and inclusive cultural activities "that will extend throughout the year," while also emphasizing that "accessibility is essential for those of us with disabilities, but it is also useful for those without."