(as shown in the score) (in order of appearance) First Scene | The Folding Screen Enrique, a theatre DIRECTOR, has just premiered a version of Romeo and Juliet.
He is visited by Gonzalo, his former lover (FIRST MAN), who recriminates him for the lack of risk in his artistic design, and insists that the true theatre is that “under the sand”.
The fascinating character of JULIET appears the embodiment of the tensions between the bourgeois lifestyle (false, conventional and external) and another way of living that acknowledges the complete truth of the individual, including the deep, dark parts, represented by the BLACK HORSE.
The climax of the Theatre under the Sand, and maybe the whole play, is the dance of the empty costumes (Pierrot, Ballerina and Pyjamas), while Juliet goes back to her grave.
The choir is divided in Students (supporters of the revolution who celebrate the freedom of love) and the Ladies (who represent the bourgeois and conventional point of view, and who want to leave the theatre at all costs).
King Don Felipe and Queen Doña Letizia attended this last representation, being this the first time they visited Teatro Real as Royals.