A2 · Elementary
8 min
culturetheatreartshistoryimmigration
El Oso de Lima: Teatro, Cultura y el Musical de Paddington
The Bear from Lima: Theatre, Culture, and Paddington the Musical
Fletcher breaks down this story in English. Octavio reacts and expands in Spanish. Follow along with the live transcript, tap any word for its translation. Elementary level — perfect for beginners building confidence.
So, last night in London, the Olivier Awards happened.
And I'll be honest, I was not expecting a bear from Peru to be the story of the evening.
Bueno, Paddington gana siete premios esta noche.
Well, Paddington wins seven prizes tonight.
Seven.
Seven Olivier Awards, including Best New Musical.
I mean, that is not a win, that is a sweep.
Mira, los Olivier Awards son muy importantes.
Look, the Olivier Awards are very important.
Right, for listeners who don't know: the Oliviers are essentially the British equivalent of the Tony Awards.
They are the highest prizes in professional theatre in the UK.
Named after Laurence Olivier, the actor.
And winning seven of them in one night is, well, it's extraordinary.
Es que Paddington es un oso famoso.
The thing is, Paddington is a famous bear.
He is.
But here's what gets me: Paddington started as a children's book.
A very specific kind of children's book, written by a man named Michael Bond in 1958.
And now, almost seventy years later, he is the toast of the West End.
How does that happen?
A ver, el libro es muy viejo.
Well, let's see: the book is very old.
1958.
Bond said he got the idea on Christmas Eve.
He saw a small teddy bear alone on a shelf in a London shop, bought it for his wife, named it Paddington after the train station near their flat.
And from that came one of the most beloved characters in British literature.
Bueno, Paddington viene de Perú.
Well, Paddington comes from Peru.
Darkest Peru, as Bond always wrote it.
This small bear travels alone to London, arrives at Paddington Station with a suitcase and a note pinned to his coat that says, please look after this bear.
And a family takes him in.
That is the whole premise, and it contains everything.
Mira, Paddington llega a Londres solo.
Look, Paddington arrives in London alone.
Alone.
No family, no language, no money.
Just a small bear in a big city.
And the thing is, that story is not really about a bear.
It is about every person who has ever arrived somewhere new and hoped someone would be kind.
La verdad, Paddington no habla inglés bien.
The truth is, Paddington doesn't speak English well.
No, he doesn't.
He makes mistakes, he misunderstands things, he takes everything too literally.
Which, I will confess, is somewhat relatable to me personally.
I once told Octavio's mother I was very pregnant when I meant embarrassed, so.
I know the feeling.
Es que Fletcher habla español muy mal.
The thing is, Fletcher speaks Spanish very badly.
[laughs]
[laughs]
Thank you, Octavio, for that generous assessment.
But look, the point stands.
The comedy in the Paddington stories comes from this gap between Paddington's complete sincerity and the world's complicated rules.
He always tries to do the right thing.
He just gets it spectacularly wrong sometimes.
Bueno, el oso es muy bueno.
Well, the bear is very good.
He is fundamentally good.
And I think that matters more than it sounds.
We live in a moment where cynicism is basically the default mode of public life.
And here is this bear who is just, genuinely, trying his best.
And audiences love him for it.
That is not nothing.
A ver, el teatro en Londres es muy bueno.
Let's see, the theatre in London is very good.
The West End is extraordinary.
I spent two weeks in London back in, I think it was 2003, covering a story, and I saw four shows in ten days.
Just because I could.
There is nothing quite like it in the world, that concentration of live theatre on a handful of streets in central London.
Es que el West End es muy famoso.
The thing is, the West End is very famous.
It is, and it has been since at least the seventeenth century.
London has had professional theatre longer than most countries have existed as countries.
The Globe, Shakespeare, all of that.
So when the Oliviers give a prize, they are measuring something against a very long tradition.
Mira, los premios empiezan en 1976.
Look, the prizes start in 1976.
Right.
The Society of West End Theatre started them in 1976, named them after Olivier in 1984 after he died.
Laurence Olivier was probably the greatest stage actor of the twentieth century.
Hamlet, Othello, Richard III.
If you're going to name a theatre prize after someone, you pick him.
La verdad, el nombre es muy importante.
The truth is, the name is very important.
It carries weight.
And Paddington: The Musical winning Best New Musical at the Oliviers is not small.
It puts this story, this immigrant bear, in the same company as some of the greatest musicals ever staged in Britain.
That is a serious cultural statement.
Bueno, muchos libros van al teatro ahora.
Well, many books go to the theatre now.
That's a real phenomenon and I want to push on it a little.
Harry Potter, His Dark Materials, Matilda, and now Paddington.
There is a very clear pattern here of British cultural institutions, beloved children's books, being converted into big stage productions.
Is that healthy for theatre?
Or is it just, I mean, is it just safe?
Es que el musical de Paddington es original.
The thing is, the Paddington musical is original.
You're saying it's not just a straight adaptation, it brings something new to the material.
A ver, el teatro necesita nuevas ideas.
Let's see, theatre needs new ideas.
Fair.
And the other winner last night, the Best New Play, was something called Punch.
Which is not a children's story about a lovable bear.
It is a much darker piece of work, dealing with domestic violence and the old Punch and Judy puppet tradition.
So the evening held both, the beloved and the confrontational.
Mira, Punch es una obra muy difícil.
Look, Punch is a very difficult play.
Very different energy.
Punch and Judy is one of the oldest popular entertainment traditions in Britain.
And using that as the frame for a play about violence in the home is, look, that is genuinely bold writing.
The Oliviers rewarding both Punch and Paddington in the same night says something about the range of what British theatre is doing right now.
La verdad, las dos obras son muy diferentes.
The truth is, the two plays are very different.
Completely.
And yet they are both, in their own way, about belonging.
About who gets welcomed and who gets hurt.
Paddington is about an outsider who is received with kindness.
Punch is about what happens behind closed doors when kindness is absent.
Two sides of the same coin, maybe.
Bueno, Paddington es diferente, pero la gente lo quiere.
Well, Paddington is different, but people love him.
That's the extraordinary thing, really.
This bear has been around for nearly seventy years, across books and TV adaptations and two very successful films, and every generation finds something new in him.
The films were huge, globally.
And now a stage musical wins seven Oliviers.
The character just keeps traveling.
Es que Paddington viene de otro país.
The thing is, Paddington comes from another country.
Always.
And I think that is, at bottom, why the story has lasted.
Britain is a country that has struggled, and continues to struggle, with its relationship to immigration.
And yet its most beloved fictional character is an immigrant.
A small, polite, marmalade-sandwich-loving immigrant who just wants to fit in and keep making the effort.
I find that genuinely moving.
Mira, el oso quiere una familia.
Look, the bear wants a family.
That's the heart of it, isn't it.
He wants to belong somewhere.
He wants to be wanted.
And the Brown family gives him that.
There is a reason that note, please look after this bear, has stuck in the culture for sixty-seven years.
Because it is the most human request in the world, even when it's written by a bear.
A ver, el teatro inglés es muy rico.
Let's see, English theatre is very rich.
It really is.
And nights like this one remind you why it matters.
Not just as entertainment, but as a mirror.
Theatre shows us who we are, who we want to be, and sometimes who we've been pretending not to be.
A bear from darkest Peru winning seven Oliviers.
I mean.
What a night for London.