From the heights of Vil·la Joana in Vallvidrera, to the depths of the Dipòsit del Rei Martà in Sarrià , the Grec expands to all corners of Barcelona. Today its director, Cesc Casadesús, has presented a dozen unique shows that are offered in unique spaces.
Choral singing is the common denominator of three of these proposals. The choreographer Marina Mascarell, the musical director Simon Hasley and the Orfeó Català will interpret Fauré’s requiem in El requiem de la llum, in a rather unknown space in the modernist grounds of Hospital de Sant Pau. “People went there to heal, and this requiem is that of hope – says Mascarell-. It’s not like Mozart’s, more apocalyptic. We will hear it standing upright, with unique acoustics, and the voices will come and go, with the singers manipulating some light elements. It is a collective spiritual experience.”
Hasley adds: “When I was growing up, music was only made in churches and concert halls. Today we do it in new spaces, with new presentations, exploring buildings. It’s important that the singers have visual contact with the audience, that’s why they learn the lyrics by heart.” (July 14-16)
With the Choir of the Teatre Principal de Palma, Aurora Bauzà and Pere Jou present A beginning_expanded version, at the Dipòsit del Rei MartÃ. “With 11 performers, the show works with darkness, which is our pentagram – declares Jou-. It is a vocal and light piece, which tries to give new alternatives to the future and escape from this apocalyptic present”. (8-9/VII)
The apocalypse also has to do with the Sol Picó Company’s show, Titanas al Born, with the Granollers Union Choir, in the ruins of 1714. With music by Judit Farrés, Picó explains: “I take the apocalyptic narrative personal and I make one of my own. We are three dancers, who create a kind of triangle, which is a new space and where we are going with all this. We are accompanied by 20 titans of the heart”. (6-7/VII)
Also in Born, Projecte Ingenu presents The day the last panda died. “The public, with an audio guide, visits a museum of the future where they witness their own extinction – explains Marc Chornet-. The show draws on the thought of Eudald Carbonell, who says that when human reproduction takes place in an artificial way, we will cease to be the human species”. On stage, six versatile performers and a musician. (July 12-14)
Another museum space, the Model, is the setting for Jo, transvestite, a text by Josep Maria Miró for the Roberto G. Alonso Company. “The show was created thinking about this hostile space in terms of transvestism – declares Alonso – and gives it poetic justice”. Miró adds: “It’s an alter fiction, based on Roberto’s own experience, who says in the show that he feels like a woman. Transformism has been present in Barcelona since the end of the 19th centuryâ€. (July 17-19)
El Grec will also be present at the Julio Muñoz Ramonet Foundation, with Una casa en la montaña, by Albert Boronat. With the actors Javier Beltrán and Sergi Torrecilla, only 15 people will be able to access it at a time, to attend a meeting between two characters, with a little food for everyone. “There is the idea that if there is a community it is because we eat together or we eat together and it becomes a community”, points out Boronat. The program advances that one of the two characters must kill the other. (July 22-23)
In Vil·la Joana, where Monsignor Cinto died and which is a space of the Muhba, the Company Pagans presents El valor de res. Its director, Núria Clemares, declares: “It’s a show for 30 spectators. We set out to get people to read. We created the book, we wrote it, the illustrations, the layout… And there is a moment that becomes magical. It is based on a 16th century remeiera, there is a very important ecological part. And the technology, too, is simple in appearance, but very complex in operation”. (July 13-15)
At another museum, in this case the MNAC, the Company La Reina Alcalde presents Corpus. “It is a temporary performative exhibition, thanks to the link with the Nau Ivanow, of creation and museums – explains Irene Vicente Salas-. Art crosses the great themes of humanity. I love talking about Catalan art, which is universal. There are seven stages throughout the MNAC. There is no linear route and it can be visited in more than one day. There will be 15 or 16 performers and visitors to the museum will also find it.” (July 20-22)
At the Ateneu Barcelonès, Òpera de Butxaca will present the second part of its opera solos, which were interrupted by the pandemic. Now it will be Quatre solos soles, with musical direction by Francesc Prat and stage design by Marc Rosich. The show narrates through four monodramas, the stories of four voices trapped in domestic environments. (12-13/VII)
Finally, the Grec goes to La Muriel bar, “a gastronomic and cultural nursery, and also a leisure and rauxa space in Grà cia”, in the words of Pau Roca. Sixto Paz presents Beasts, based on a story by the British Monica Dolan, played by Marta Marco. “She is a therapist who talks about the case of a mother who has allowed her 8-year-old daughter to have breast surgery,” explains Roca. And the actress explains her goal: “My mission is to capture attention in such a playful space.” (3-13/VII)
