Microteatro

On Thursday night I was lucky enough to be invited to the theatre by my flatmate Christina who was going with her boyfriend Thomás, Laura a friend from work and her partner Miguel. There are plenty of traditional theatres in Madrid but we were going to a Microteatro called Por Dinero. The idea is that above ground the bar serves drinks as usual but that in the rooms below short plays of about 15 minutes each are performed all night. We waited in a queue outside to book our tickets (4 euros per play) and then went to have dinner before the shows we'd reserved started.

Here we are waiting outside:

Once our time slots had appeared on a TV screen above the bar we were ushered downstairs in silence to wait for the show to start. A man in underpants, vest and socks and covered in lipstick marks stuck his head round a door and the night began! Each show contains about 2-3 characters and the tiny rooms (and they are tiny - only about 3 metres square) in which they're performed all branch off a dark corridor. I wasn't sure what to expect to be honest but we all really enjoyed it. The two shows that we saw were both comedies which often meant that the lines were spoken really fast so at times it was hard to keep up. The actors were brilliant; just because the plays only last 15-20 minutes doesn't mean they're any less good than a full length show.

You can have a look online beforehand to see which shows interest you or you can just wait until you're in the queue where you can pick up a flyer. It is very popular though and the capacity of the room for each show is only about 10 people so if you're in a group like we were you may have to arrive early or wait until they have space later on. There were five of us so we ended up booking the 10.45pm and 11pm slots and going for dinner beforehand.

Por Dinero is located just off Gran Vía in Calle de Loreto Prado y Enrique Chicote

microteatromadrid.es