Sohrlin Andalucía, the major cultural and performing arts training project spearheaded by Malaga-born actor Antonio Banderas and producer Domingo Sánchez, has just taken ... an unexpected turn with the departure of the Goya Award winner from the organisation.
The partners have decided to sever ties, as they do not share the same working philosophy or the direction of the joint project, which began just over two years ago, in July 2024.
Although rumours of the split began months ago, Banderas' departure has now become a reality by mutual agreement between both parties. The end of this partnership will not affect the project's continuity, as Domingo Sánchez and his production company, Merlín, are taking sole charge of Sohrlin Andalucía.
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Just a few days ago, Sánchez officially opened the interactive exhibition The Legend of the Titanic. Banderas has also been searching for some time for a location for a second Teatro del Soho, where he intends to stage large-scale theatrical productions similar to those at Sohrlin.
Sánchez told Sur that his former partner "has left the company because he wants to focus more on his Soho theatre project". As for the future of Sohrlin Andalucía, he said the project is continuing as before, with the same cultural activities and the commitment to the city.
"There has been no falling-out, just a change in the company's ownership," Sánchez said. He described the separation as "amicable".
Banderas and Sánchez launched the project just two and a half years ago, although the partnership between them had been forged two years earlier. In October 2022, the two men presented what was to be a project at Malaga city coincil, aimed at producing shows and becoming a training centre for the performing arts.
At the time, Sohrlin aimed to combine the work and contacts of Antonio Banderas and the Teatro del Soho with the international experience of Domingo Sánchez, who, through Producciones Merlín, had already staged major shows in the Middle East. It was a joint project that Banderas described as "love at first sight", as both share the same "foolishness and madness in their heads". A romance that has ended in a divorce settlement.
Early signs of the split
The first sign of the split emerged half a year ago, when Banderas announced that he was looking to "expand" the Teatro del Soho Caixabank with a second, larger venue offering conditions similar to those of his Sohrlin Andalucía project.
He surprised everyone by setting an expiry date for this performing arts and training centre in La Misericordia and acknowledging that this initiative would have to close in the near future.
"Sohrlin is a temporary venue and we knew that from the start, because there's a local development plan in place there and, well, we're going to make the most of the two, three or four years we have left," Banderas said.
By then, the business rift between the two partners was already evident within the company, but the actor's public statements accelerated the split, without waiting for town planning regulations to bring the project to an end.
Banderas had been exploring other locations for months in the same Sohrlin area for his new Teatro del Soho bis. He had even expressed an interest in a plot of land to the west of La Térmica, on the corner of Parque Litoral. The search for a new site for this second performance venue will now be reignited following Banderas' definitive withdrawal from the Misericordia project.
The question now is what will become of the Sohrlin name: an already well-known brand in the cultural sphere. The name symbolises the agreement between the project's two partners, Antonio Banderas and Domingo Sánchez, combining their respective flagship companies, Soho and Merlin.