Take off

Auditorio de Tenerife is to present in its La Salita hall the play Take off [Nada de esto tuvo que haber ocurrido] (Take-off: None of This Should Have Happened), written by Tenerife-born playwright Jose Padilla under commission of Auditorio de Tenerife.

Inspired by the 1977 collision of two Boeing 747s in Tenerife, which resulted in 583 fatalities, Take Off [Nada de esto tuvo que haber ocurrido] presents an onstage exploration of accidents. Instead of recreating the event, the production examines its circumstances, highlighting how a series of decisions, misunderstandings, and systemic pressures can lead to loss of life with mechanical precision.

The stage serves as an inquest into the disaster, combining human voices, historical echoes, and documentary excerpts in a layered structure. Pilots, passengers, air traffic controllers, and the personification of fog form a choir that fluctuates between data and delirium; between memory and fate.

Take Off does not seek to assign blame but instead reveals the tragic beauty of the mishap and the fragility of progress. This choral dramatic work explores the tension between technical precision and misfortune, as well as the contrast between language that seeks order and the silence that disrupts it. The accident is presented not as a breakdown of order, but as a reflection of it, offering insight into the underlying forces of time.

Blending elements of thriller, comedy, tragedy, and drama, the production transforms the theatre into a cancelled flight that moves from history to myth. It balances factual precision with poetic reflection, reminding us that catastrophes also reveal the order from which they arise.