User:Cesarraton/sandbox/César Lorente Ratón

César Lorente Ratón
César Lorente Ratón is a Spanish actor born in San Fernando, Cádiz in 1974. He has directed, produced, acted and worked as a lighting designer and technician in theatre and cinema. He is also an active socio-cultural artist. He was a proactive kid in theatre while at school and engaged in a semiprofessional production and toured with it in Spain when he was 19 years old.

His acting training began at Lee Strasberg’s Institute in London. He graduated in BA (Hons.) Theatre Studies from Middlesex University. He has a Masters in TV Production by TRACOR and El Mundo TV accredited by CEU San Pablo, Madrid, and a MBA from ThePowerMBA. As a director he has worked along with Instituto Cervantes, Spanish Embassy, promoting Spanish culture and language. As a producer and director he has created the first ever fusion of kathakali and flamenco, “Draupadi”, based in the extract from Mahabharata, “The Killing of Dussasana”. This is part of a socio-cultural project called “A red light to violence against women” with the objective of advocating women’s dignity through the arts.

Early life
César was born in San Carlos Hospital, San Fernando, Cádiz, where his father worked as a navy radiologist. His mother, housewife, had also a military background as her father was also in the navy. César grew up in Cádiz were he studied at Colegio La Inmaculada, public school. As a child he participated in school performances which gave him the opportunity to go on stage at Gran Teatro Falla and Teatro Andalucía. He used to go to FIT (Festival Iberoamericano de Teatro) which allowed him to become a theatre lover and helped him to build his passion for this art form. During the summers his father sent him to several summer camps, two of them were military (El Picacho) and two other were nature related camps in Doñana, both summer camps were in the province of Huelva. He also went to Sierra Nevada (Granada) during one summer. In 1986 his father sent him abroad for the first time to Bognor Regis, United Kingdom, where he stayed with a family for a month. In August 1990 he spent a month in a farm in New York State, at Hoosick Falls. These trips would be the seeds for him to grew inside him the desire for travelling and learning languages.

At a very young age, few months after he was born, he had a perforation in his left ear. When he was 8 years old he had to undergo a tympanoplasty operation which, due to pseudomonas at the theatre operation, resulted in a further infection and therefore a new perforation. It was not until he was 18 years old when they decided to operate him again. This time he got operated from both tympanums as both were hurt.

It was then when he decided to fly away in search of his dream: a career in theatre, drama, acting.

After finishing high school in 1992, he started Business Studies at UCA (University of Cádiz) but instead of going to class he would join an amateur theatre group. The play they were working on was Lysistrata by Aristophanes and he acted as Cinesias. He had the chance to interpret it in a tour around the province of Cádiz and at Sala Ambigú, Valladolid.

He then decided he wanted to pursue a career as an actor and prepared himself to access RESAD (Royal School of Dramatic Arts) in Madrid. He went to the casting but he was not accepted.

On his way back to Cádiz he attended a theatre workshop called "La Investigación Teatral" (Theatre Investigation) imparted by Ramón Pareja at UCA (University of Cádiz). It was Ramón Pareja who advised him to either go to either Barcelona, Berlin or London to study theatre, as those were the best cities to do so at that time.

He then moved from UCA to UNED (Open University to study in the distance) to carry on with Business studies. Due to his small knowledge of English he chose London over the other two destinations. He would also be able to carry on with his university studies which later on he will leave after only passing Economic History.

Early work. Abroad Part I 1995-2004
On arrival to London his first job was as room attendant London Metropole, Edgware Road. He remembers it as the most disgraceful and depressing job he has ever had. He then started working as a barman at Cafe Rouge in Knightsbridge. Several jobs followed up as barman, market researcher, waiter, kitchen assistant, translator,...

During this time he attended acting classes at the Lees Strasberg's Institute until they shut down.

He then tried to access London School of Economics passing both the English and Mathematics exams but he was unable to fund his studies. Later on he managed to access LCPDT (London College of Printing and Distributive Arts), part of UAL, where he started Business Communication. After one year full time he had to shift to part time to end up leaving it after two years as he could not afford it.

In the year 1998 after having met the Spanish actor Alejo Sauras, who he hosted at his house in London, he went back to Madrid. Both went to Cristina Rota and managed to access the school. Although he paid he did not see himself able to maintain himself in Madrid despite Alejo helped him. He decided to go back to London where he started working as a barman at The Chapel where later on he became assistant manager. After leaving this job and working as a barman in a pub in Liverpool Street he lost his job and became unemployed.

Thanks to this he had the chance to do a Community College course for unemployed people from LOCN (London Open College Network). He specialised in acting and lighting. The classes were taught at Hoxton Hall in Shoreditch. During that year he managed to take part in several amateur productions which allowed him to learn and practice acting and theatre skills. By the end of the course and when they were rehearsing the final show of the year, their teacher and one of the founders of the Community College, Margaret Shepherd, passed away. The group decided to present their work at the end of the course as an homage to her having to direct themselves facing a great challenge which resulted in a successful end of course.

This course for unemployed was also an access course to University. He chose to go to Middlesex University because they had an exchange program with RESAD (Royal School of Dramatic Arts), Madrid, where in previous years he had not been admitted.

He graduated in BA (Hons.) Theatre Studies from Middlesex University. During the first year he staged his own production, written, designed and directed by him: Tunnel of Life. Despite he was asked not to do so by his teachers he managed to present the show with full house and very good welcome by the audience.

After the first year of studies he travelled to Paris and Milan where he did a voice training course with Antonietta Storchi in Milan, Italy.

The second year he obtained an Erasmus grant from the E.U. for an educational exchange at RESAD. He became the first ever student coming back to his own country as a foreign student at this institution. He did voice training with Concha Doñaque and Vicente Fuentes. Fencing with Joaquin Campomanes. Dramatic literature with Luis Landero and Interpretation with Charo Amador. He was also eligible for cultural exchange with USA. He spent two months at Baruch College, CUNY. And then he returned to London to finish his graduation.

Back to Spain Part I 2004-2012
After graduating he went back to Spain where he had the opportunity to work with a PR and marketing agency from India: Stark Communications. He collaborated organising different fairs along with Kerala Tourism and STARK. FITUR, ITB, BIT, ILTM


 * EVENTS
 * Production & Technical work

Cinema Festival Almeria en Corto

Animadrid

Teatro Yeses

Teatro Alfil

Sala Caracol

Lighting technician RESAD

RESAD

Argentina, Paraguay, Brasil

ESAD

Draupadi

Workshops at ESAD & RESAD & CARLOS III0


 * Short Films

El Ultimo Peldaño


 * Films

Los Caprichos de Goya

Kathakali- Flamenco The Killing of Dussasana

Spanish Massala

Body training with Fabio Mangolini in Madrid, Spain.

Abroad Part II 2012-2018
He also staged his own playwright “The Tunnel of Life” at Hoxton Hall, London. As a lighting designer he has worked for Teamwork in the musical “Bollywood, Love Story” by Sanjoy Roy promoting India in Egypt during the Festival “India by the Nile”. He has different designs for his own shows and for other directors and producers like Juan Ollero, Madrid, Spain and Iñaki Rekarte. He also worked as road manager and technical chief in the tour of “Soul Pait” by Dani Pannullo in India. It is a fusion of kalaripayattum and hip-hop. The premier of the show was at Rendezvous 2014, New Delhi. He has acted as Bernarda de Alba in the production “House of Bernarda Alba” by theatre director Ishwar Shunya. This piece exposes the repression and life of women in Spain at the beginning of twentieth century. He trained as an actor at Lee Strasberg Institute, London, and Royal School of Dramatic Arts, Madrid. He has worked or staged his own shows in some of the most prestigious venues around the world like Hoxton Hall, London, United Kingdom; Kamani Auditorium, New Delhi; National Centre Performing Arts, Mumbai; Opera House of Cairo, El Cairo, Egypt; Opera House of Alejandria, Egypt, El Cairo; Teatro Metropolitan, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Teatro Alfil, Madrid, España; or Piccolo Teatro, Milano, Italy. Other countries where he has professional experience are Brazil and Paraguay. He has participated and worked in several International Festivals like Almeria en Corto Film Festival, Almeria, Spain; Animadrid Film Festival, Madrid, Spain; OTRO 2009 International Theatre Festival, Murcia, Spain; Delhi International Arts Festival 2012, New Delhi; Kullu Dusshera 2013, Himachal Pradesh; Literature Live Festival 2013, Mumbai; India by the Nile 2014, Egypt. In the field of cinema he has worked with film makers like Lal Jose from Kerala, Chus Gutiérrez and Oscar de Julián from Spain. While working and collaborating with Kerala Tourism, promoting the State in Spain, France, Italy and Germany since 2004, he discovered the connections and similitudes between West and East and got interested in understanding the way of seeing life in both, the West and the East. Through two apparent different art forms he discovered that there are strong connections between both cultures. Dance and theatre, woman and man, India and Spain, Kathakali and Flamenco, and his own marriage with an Indian Citizen have allowed him to reaffirm his idea that we are all the same but we just behave differently according to the evolution of humanity in the geographical point where we have been born. Universal themes like love, revenge, civil war, genre and domestic violence are common in the World. At present he is working on Barroz: Guardian of D'Gama's Treasure, directorial debut of Mohanlal, acting as Mendoza.

Cervantes He has directed and staged plays in Spanish and performed by Indian Citizens in New Delhi.

Workshops at Cervantes El Sueño de una Mujer Julio Cortazar

La Hija de Rapaccini Octavio Paz

Con una pequeña ayuda de mis amigos

Zarzuela

Draupadi

Bangalore

Mumbai

Delhi

Agra

Trivandrum

Chennai

TEAMWORKS

Egypt


 * EDUCATION - Summer Camps

Genesis

Playfulminds

The Net

Amity-Amion


 * OTHERS

Judge- Theatre Festival

Road Manager for Daniel Pannullo

FLAMENCO WORKSHOPS

Back to Spain. Part II 2018-2022
GSD

INTERGIFT

Cinesias in Lisistrata Cádiz Province tour & Sala Ambigú, Valladolid, Spain. 1993-1994
 * THEATRE
 * Acting

The torturer in The Dumb Woman’s Ecstasy Hoxton Hall, London, United Kingdom. 1999 Margaret.

Drunker in Peter Pan Hoxton Hall, London, United Kingdom. 1999

The Visit Middlesex University, London, United Kingdom. 2000

Lucky in Waiting for Godot RESAD (Royal School of Dramatic Arts), Madrid, Spain, & ESTC (Lisbon Theatre and Film School), Lisbon, Portugal. 2000

Old Man in Greek Tragedy

Judge in Mother Courage adaptation Middlesex University, London, United Kingdom. 2004

Shreelancer by Sandeep Mohan. Acting as French priest.

Abroad Part III 2021-Present
Barroz: Nidhi Kaakkum Bhootham

Mumbai. Teaching and acting.