Juan Carlos Martel, who will finish as director of the Teatre Lliure next winter, has presented his fifth season today with great theatrical proposals. “We want 23-24 to be the season for the feeling of belonging. The irruption of the extreme right in our governments is not an anecdotal fact, it is happening throughout Europe. That is why theaters cannot forget the critical spiritâ€.
With this objective, the next season will carry the motto El brogit col·lectiu, with a high presence of choral shows. Martel replaces the Yerma that he staged with scenery by Frederic Amat and music by Raül Refree, with whom he will close the season in June 2024, when he will no longer be a director, with a version of L’odissea, from the 24 songs homerics.
Those in charge of inaugurating the course in September in the Fabià Puigserver room will be the Belgian anarchist collective FC Bergman, with 300 x 50 x 30, which are the measurements attributed to Noah’s ark in cubits, and is the story of a group of people who reflect on what a community is.
It will be followed by La nostra ciutat, by Thorton Wilder, with dramaturgy by Llà tzer Garcia and direction by Ferran Utzet, who explains: “Every night it is performed in some city in the United States. It is the story of a community and Wilder achieves something as complicated as describing the life of a population of two thousand inhabitants”. The Lliure production will have 17 performers. (11/X-12/XI)
A group of young Chileans from the Teatro La Re-Sentida will address the new masculinities in The Possibility of Tenderness, by Marco Layera and Carolina de la Maza. ( 23-25/XI)
Baró d’Evel will return with the extraordinary Falaise (30/XI-10/XII) and Pau Carrió will be responsible for playing with the most beastly Shakespeare, Macbeth. “The work continues to scare me, it makes me tremble every time I work. It is the fear that causes us what is within reach of our handsâ€, says Carrió, who has a luxury cast, led by Julio Manrique and Laia Marull. ( 14/II-17/III)
In March, Susanne Kennedy’s philosophical virtual reality installation I am (VR) will arrive (3/20-3/28), and a polyphony of Ukrainian refugee mothers who will try to imagine a world without wars in Mothers. A song for a war time’, by the Polish artist Marta Górnicka. ( 27-28/III)
Another strong dish will be Iphigènia, adapted by Albert Arribas and directed by Alicia Gorina, based on the tragedies of Euripides. Pere Arquillué and Emma Vilarasau “will become parents and children, because the proposal is the generational inheritance of violence”, says Gorina. (24/ IV-26/ V)
At the Lliure de Grà cia, La Calòrica will premiere its new show, Le congrès marche pas, with dramaturgy by Joan Yago and direction by Israel Solà : “It is about the Congress of Vienna, the great celebration of absolutism after the French Revolution. There were nine months of parties. It is a show in many languages. We put the word aside a bit, with music constantly, but the comedy from La Calòrica will also come outâ€. (20/IX-22/X)
Based on the work of Mercè Rodoreda, LucÃa Miranda will present a reflection on the stories in La nit que vam matar les lopos, because “¿que sucede cuando matamos al lobo?â€, asks the creator and director. (1-11/XI)
Marilia Samper will direct The Cinema, by Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Baker. “Young people lose hope very soon and the play deals with their problems, but with a lot of humor, with three actors who work doing all the chores in the movie theater.” (29/XI-17/XII)
Mario Gas will direct Casares – Camus: a love story, adapted by Rosa Renom from the correspondence between the actress and the writer, who interprets it with Jordi Boixaderas. “They explained everything by letter,” declares Renom. It is a co-production with Temporada Alta. (2-21/I)
Indi Gest will premiere SÃsif fa no fa, by Jordi Oriol, with the pianist and artist Carles Pedragosa as the sole performer. “He will free himself from the stone through art,” says the author and director of this co-production with Temporada Alta. (25/I-11/II)
Victoria Szpunberg is also the author and director of The Categorical Imperative, with a cast headed by Ãgata Roca: “A professor of ethics goes from the categorical imperative to the king of the sword, to revenge, for the relationship with men” (28 /II-24/III)
The monumental novel El dÃa del watusi, by Francisco Casavella, has found someone to adapt and direct it. This titan is Iván Morales: “For me it is a chronicle of the transition in Barcelona from the point of view of the extrasâ€. The play is co-produced by Los Montoya and the Teatre Lliure. (10/IV-5/F)
The Galician company Chévere returns with the Helen Keller Project, an idea by Chusa Pérez, directed by Xron Chévere, based on this deaf and blind woman. “They are rebellious women who broke their silence,†says Chusa. (9-19/F)
The Lliure de Grà cia will close the season with Retrat de l’artista mort, by Davide Carnevali, a co-production with the Piccolo Teatro di Milano: “Violence manifests itself in various ways and there is always the risk of it manifesting itself again. The show adapts to each city where it is doneâ€, explains its author and director. (5-16/VI)
The season is completed with proposals from the Espai Lliure, as well as educational and residency activities. The ticket price rises to €32, for the first time since 2013. Season tickets maintain the price (10 shows are worth €150) and for own productions Tuesday is created as spectator day, at 50%.
The balance of the season that is now ending is positive, with an occupancy rate of 74%, with an average age of 45 years. In the four years of his tenure, Martel has more than tripled educational activities (163) and has gained 9,000 viewers on average each season. The most watched show was Tots eren fills meus, with 98.4% occupancy, which could not be replaced due to scheduling problems of the artistic team.
“Some of the works of this season that is now ending will be historical theatrical references. I am very proud of how we came out of the crises we are experiencing, and I am especially proud of itâ€, concluded the director of the Teatre Lliure, Juan Carlos Martel.
Buy your discount tickets at Entradas de Vanguardia.
Catalan version, here
