“A complete disaster”
So writes the taurine critic Pla Ventura, describing the lack of impact following this year’s Feria de San Isidro, at least as far as the lesser-known triunfadores are concerned. A previous figura making a successful comeback in Madrid, Sebastián Castella, is continuing to reap the benefits of his Las Ventas performances, but Fernando Adrián, who achieved the rare accomplishment of two consecutive departures through the plaza’s Puerta Grande has, at the time of writing, only one further appearance ahead of him, at Albacete in September alongside two other modestos.
Indeed, most of the faenas that had impact in Madrid - Gómez del Pilar’s, Leo Valadez’s, Fernando Robleño's, Francisco José Espada’s, Román’s and Uceda Leal's, as well as Adrián's - were not from the figuras, despite their several afternoons in the feria. Yet, as I write, Gómez del Pilar is only able to look forward to two contracts, Valadez four, Robleño five (three of these in France), Espada one (another afternoon in Madrid), and Román two in Spain (plus a couple in Peru), while Uceda Leal has no corridas ahead of him at all. One of the triunfadores of Sevilla’s April feria, Manuel Escribano - not contracted for San Isidro - has fought four times since and has just five more contracts signed.
The current situation is a clear example of the fossilisation of la Fiesta - the figuras (largely in the hands of a small number of empresas) continue to dominate in the carteles put together by those same empresas, while it’s slim pickings for everyone else, however well they perform when they do have an opportunity.
The increasing lack of recognition of successful performances can also affect toreros regarded as being almost up there with the figuras. Ginés Marín was pronounced triunfador of last year’s Santander feria (although his performance with six bulls did not impress this writer, who was present at the corrida): this year, his name is missing from the Feria de Santiago’s carteles. Diego Urdiales triumphed in Valladolid last year but hasn’t been asked back, and he is also absent from Bilbao’s 2023 carteles despite having gone out of that plaza’s main gate on five previous occasions.
How has this situation come about? In addition to the mundillo’s reliance on a comparatively small number of empresas, who keep their costs low by also managing matadors and by entering into mutually beneficial deals with each other when it comes to putting carteles together, the general lack of publicity la Fiesta attracts these days means they, in turn, are reliant on a small number of names to bring in the crowds.
But the empresas themselves are also to blame for the dearth of information about la Fiesta. Publicity for corridas has not changed in decades, indeed for over a century. As the Bilbao carteles show at the head of this piece, all the public gets (in addition, perhaps, to a picture of some kind) is a list of names of ganaderías and toreros. Indeed, in Bilbao’s case they have even done away with the traditional single adjective to describe the day’s bulls (“¡Terrorificos toros!”) or the corrida itself (“¡Esplendida corrida!”). The aficionado may know what they’re coming to see, but what about everyone else? And so, when it comes to toreros, the empresas rely on the handful of names that resonate amongst the general public.
Also, there are no rivalries - manufactured or otherwise - to attract the public anymore. Commentators hark back to the rivalries that have played an important part in the history of toreo - Pedro Romero versus Costillares and Pepe-Hillo, Cúchares v Chiclanero, Lagartijo v Frascuelo, Joselito v Belmonte, Manolete v Domingo Ortega and Carlos Arruza, Litri v Aparicio, Dominguín v Ordóñez, El Cordobés v Miguelín, Joselito v Ponce - but nowadays rivalries only happen on paper: not in the plaza. Roberto Domínguez, Andrés Roca Rey’s manager and himself once half of a manufactured rivalry with Espartaco, makes out his matador will appear with anyone (Daniel Luque, it seems, excepted, if Andrés’s own pronouncements are to be taken into account), so what is preventing regular appearances by the Peruvian with the likes of Emilio de Justo or Tomás Rufo, or even the upcoming Juan Leal, Leo Valadez or Isaac Fonseca, on the same cartel? Presumably, it’s down to the empresas once more - an utter lack of imagination as to what amounts to an enticing prospect that could, given the right publicity, fill a plaza.