The Ateneu Barcelonès paid tribute yesterday to the actress Margarida Xirgu, as part of the Centennial cycle of the 1920s. The act covered her 60 years of international career, marked by a brave and innovative character, and her friendship with GarcÃa Lorca, until it was consolidated as “the great diva of republican dramaturgy”.
His memorial brought together the actresses who have received the award that bears their name: Carme Fortuny, Carme Elias, Carme Sansa, Mercè Arà nega, Rosa Renom, Àurea Márquez, Imma Colomer, Mercè Managuerra and Anna Sahún, “the new Xirgus”.
During the event, the director of the Center for Research in Performing Arts, Francesc Foguet, reviewed the legacy of Xirgu, who 54 years after her death continues to be one of the most universal Catalan actresses. And not only because of her success, an undoubted fact, but also because of her courage and her great dedication within the dramaturgical world.
“He got up late and went to mass. During the afternoon he rehearsed and at night he reviewed texts to decide whether or not to include them in the repertoire,” Foguet said.
At just 11 years old, she began acting in numerous amateur theater companies, before receiving her first success in 1910 as Oscar Wilde’s Salome. From that moment he began to represent works by great authors, such as Àngel Guimerà , Juli Vallmitjana, GarcÃa Lorca or Valle-Inclán.
But it was thanks to his courage and his ability to adapt to different audiences that his career took off until he became a benchmark in Barcelona, ​​Madrid and Latin America, until he made the world leap. “Xirgu stood out for his ability to represent everything from commercial plays to popular vaudeville,” recalled Foguet.
After touring international stages, especially Latin America, the actress spent her last years as a dramaturgical director in Uruguay, where she opted for a more innovative, modern theater with a risky repertoire, but always with the nostalgia of returning to her land.
Half a century later, the Oriol Bohigas room at the Ateneu Barcelonès has visited the past to fill the present with memories, anecdotes, smiles and a toast that has revived the memory of Xirgu, who once was, and still is, “the great diva of the republican dramaturgy”.
