Dorothy breaks the mirrors at the XXVI Living Chess in Xàbia
The 26th edition of the renowned event took place on a warm evening last Saturday.
The XXVI edition of the Escacs Vivents in Xàbia launched a message of awareness about the importance of mental health through the character of Dorothy, the protagonist of ‘Wizard of Oz‘ based on the novel ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’, played by a fabulous Inés Marqués.
The mirrors of Emerald City were transformed to highlight that social networks convey a very small part of reality, a biased and depthless image; a green world that represented that city and the entire audience could see with 3D glasses. Faced with this, Dorothy discovers that the Wizard of Oz, played by the small and sensational Pau Piqueras, is nothing more than a normal person who has taken advantage of gossip to gain enormous power and assumes that in the real world he does not need that biased image, the green colour disappearing to return to reality.
In addition, she realizes that neither the Scarecrow lacks a brain, nor the Tin Man a heart, nor the Cowardly Lioness courage: they only believed it because others had told them so. Just as she thought she was not valid because she did not fit that idyllic image she saw every day through the screen of her mobile phone.
In this edition, the players were Alicia Ripoll, coordinator of Tapis de Xàbia and Jeroni Mulet Salvá, winner of the Fogueres Chess tournament, whilst the narrator-troubadour was Mariano Landete who guided the public on the complex subject of mental health, without abandoning the humour typical of these characters.
Before starting the game, the Comissió de Festes Mare de Déu de Loreto presented plaques to Jeroni Mulet and Mariano Landete as well as to the alma mater of Living Chess, Rafael Andarias, a wooden figure of a pawn and to the guest of honor, Alicia Ripoll, a sculpture inspired by the Wizard of Oz. Both figures made by the local wood artist, Miguel Ángel Miguel.
The 26th edition of this Festival of National Tourist Interest, promoted by the Comissió de Festes Mare de Déu de Loreto together with the orchestra of the Centre Artístic Musical de Xàbia and the Endanza school, in collaboration with Xàbia Council, has been a reflection on the day-to-day of mental health and a firm plea to be ourselves and abandon the superficial images that are sometimes dictated by this plastic society, of which we are all victims.
