'Cariño Malo'

A repressive society, secrets from the past, and a suitcase full of money are some of the ingredients in this tribute to Ibero-American melodrama. The mysterious alchemy of great classics of Peruvian música criolla is reinterpreted here through a queer lens in a story about the search for independence and desire. Book tickets online La Salita presents Cariño malo, the debut work by Peruvian company Ministerio de la Belleza, winner of the Audience Award at the Mostra Internacional de Teatro Cómico e Festivo de Cangas 2026. After the first Friday performance there will be a talk-back with the audience. Cariño malo is a queer melodrama blending theatre, radio drama, and Peruvian música criolla to explore the obscene — what was never meant to be seen but insists on showing itself. The play follows Silvio, a 40-year-old man trapped under his mother's control. Determined to lose his virginity and break free from repression, he escapes the family home and lands a job on a radio soap opera. What begins as a bid for sexual emancipation spirals into a delirious, violent, and comic adventure where melodrama clichés collide with the brutality of repression in a story of desire, guilt, and liberation. Cariño malo is a tribute to Ibero-American melodrama, to the pleasure of listening, and to the political power of the voice.