Almuzara 2021

“King Don Pedro” takes place in 14th-century Spain, against the historical backdrop of the Hundred Years’ War and the Black Death. Pedro I of Castile, called “the Cruel” by his enemies and “the Justicer” by his followers, is assassinated by his brother Enrique de Trastámara with the help of the mercenary Beltrán Duguesclín, who intervenes in the hand-to-hand combat between the brothers just as Pedro is about to win.

Once dead, Don Pedro reflects on his life, from the distant day he inherited the throne to the moment of his own death. In this state of stormy lucidity, where he can recall his past in detail, he is unable to contemplate the present or reunite with his deceased children, nor with María de Padilla, the great love of his life and his only consolation in an existence filled with violence and betrayal.

When Pedro inherits the throne at sixteen, his mother, Isabel of Portugal, embittered by her husband’s numerous infidelities, poisons his mind against her husband’s former lover, Leonor de Guzmán, and her ten illegitimate children. His mother’s lover becomes the king’s favorite and the true architect of his policy, both domestically and in relation to the Hundred Years’ War, drawing Pedro away from his natural ally, England, and closer to France, even arranging a marriage of convenience with Blanca, the French king’s niece.

Pedro’s youth is marked by numerous sexual conquests and constant duels; his temperament leads him to risk his life and neglect the affairs of state. In “King Don Pedro,” the focus is not on battles or chivalric deeds, but on the king’s introspection. Pedro experiences a childhood with an absent father whose affection is reserved for his illegitimate siblings, a youth dominated by the hatred of his enemies and his mother’s betrayal, and a maturity in which he knows only brief periods of peace over nearly twenty years of reign.