“The money allocated to culture is always less than what would be needed and that is why the Teatre Lliure has to make accomplices.” These are statements by Julio Manrique (Barcelona, ??1973), a few hours after being named the new director of the theater founded by Fabià Puigserver in 1976. The actor and theater director is finishing rehearsals for the play Love love love, by Mike Bartlett, which It premieres next week at La Villarroel, and he paused in the middle of the afternoon to answer questions from La Vanguardia.
Manrique recognizes the great responsibility that comes with occupying a position like this, but he is very excited. “The Teatre Lliure is an important theater in our city, but at the same time I feel that, in our job at least, responsibilities have to be tried to be lived. That theater thing is a game. It is not a banal game, because I always like to explain something, but it is a game and it is good that it is that way.”
He does not want to go into details of his project, which he promises he will explain in a few months, but he does advance something: “I have structured it based on a phrase by Fabià and his companions about what a theater with a vocation has to be. of public service, which has to be an art theater for everyone. Art at the center of its activity, to welcome artists and give art to society. I thought that this formula could still be valid today, and that we just had to adapt it to our 21st century coordinates. The project has to attract and seduce the public.”
Regarding the Espai Lliure, which now does not have a regular programming, Manrique is clear: “Like others of my generation, I began to be a director there, with La forma de les coses i American buffalo, when Àlex Rigola was the director of the Lliure . I think it is a wonderful space and, therefore, I would like to see theater done on a regular basis.”
Although the name of Cesc Casadesús, current director of the Grec festival, has been leaked as a member of his team, Manrique confesses that nothing is closed, that what he presented to the Teatre Lliure was “a declaration of intentions”, and that now will put to finish tying everything up.
Manrique directed the Romea theater from 2010 to 2015, but he has worked in many theaters and with many directors, a factor that gives him a multifaceted look. “When I presented my project, I wanted to be honest and said that what I could best contribute comes from my artistic career. Perhaps one of the things I have known how to do is work as a team and create good teams. That is what would have to happen to the Lliure, inside, and from the Lliure outwards.”
Manrique is well known to the general public for his acting career, which has also been enriched by his work as a director. In his history there are numerous successes, such as the recent Les tres germanes, by Anton Chekhov, which he directed at the same Teatre Lliure. Among the awards that have recognized his career, in which he has alternated theater, television and film, three Butaca awards stand out for best direction, for La forma de les coses (2008), American buffalo (2010) and El curiós incident del gos a mitjanit (2015). The theater director was one of the candidates who had the most consensus among the profession, so the news has been very well received in the sector.
The president of the Fundació del Teatre Lliure, Guillem López Casasnovas, stated: “We have chosen Julio Manrique for his outstanding professional experience in the world of performing arts and in the creation of artistic projects. We are convinced that his experience and his abilities will be an added value for the foundation in the coming years and will contribute to further enriching our purpose as an art theater for the entire world.”
Manrique will begin to exercise management responsibilities as of February 1, 2024, at which time the current director, Juan Carlos Martel, will cease to hold office. However, Manrique will now be able to start working on programming for the 2024-2025 season starting this November 1.
Catalan version, here
