After fourteen years living with an aunt, Emma Watson returns home and attends the Edwards’ dance. This is how Jane Austen’s novel Els Watson begins, which, a hundred pages later, ends like this: “Emma, ??naturally, was not convinced, although her respect for Elizabeth increased upon hearing these words. And lo and behold, the visitors left alone.”

The novel ends like this, but it is not the end of the novel, and not because Austen had a setback or died, but because she did not want to finish it. The reasons are unknown, and it is precisely from that fact that the Watsons’ story resumes until an ending that the English playwright Laura Wade has tailored for her, in a play with the same title. Premiered in London in 2018, and backed by British success, the work arrives in Catalan at the Gran Sala del TNC in translation by Joan Sellent and direction by Josep Maria Mestres.

“Austen wrote few works, all very wonderful, but only six novels,” explains Mestres. Els Watson is one of the first, but it is not known why she stopped writing it, and with that the work begins. Maybe it was too similar to her life, with a clergyman father, etc., and that’s why he abandoned her.

“Wade starts from the hundred unfinished pages,” he continues, “which have the same literary height and the same sense of humor as his other novels. How can it be that this self-taught woman, who lived in the country but had a large library at home, creates these wonderful protagonists?

The director stops here and orders the company that accompanies him in the presentation of the TNC montage that no one speaks out: “I don’t want to explain anything, because it would ruin the surprise for the audience. One of the most beautiful things about this show is letting yourself be carried away by the shakes. As a viewer you think: couldn’t he have been able to go this way? Well yes. Therefore, the less we explain, the more beautiful the gift will be.”

Mestres considers Els Watson “a classic and, although it is a cliché, in this case it is a classic that is extremely topical.” He also calls it a “philosophical comedy; Philosophy plays an important part in the show.” The director of the TNC, Carme Portaceli, adds: “It is a contemporary classic because it has a contemporary structure and perspective.”

The gift the director talks about also has to do with the TNC’s great production. On stage, 18 performers, with veterans such as Mercè Aránega, Lluïsa Castell, Jordi Banacolocha or Fina Rius. But none of them are headlining.

“The two protagonists, although it is a choral work, are Laura Aubert and Laia Manzanares.” Aubert plays the playwright Laura Wade, who apparently has a relevant role in her own work, but they have not explained anything else to keep the gift unwrapped. And Manzanares is Emma Watson, the sister at the center of the action.

Aránega feels enthusiastic about the production: “I have a very small role, but I liked the show so much that I told the director that I wanted to participate. Furthermore, it is translated by Joan Sellent, and everything he translates is always wonderful.” Portaceli reveals that Sellent, on the same day she received the original, already told them that this work was very powerful, “and after three years she already had a first translation done.”

The cast continues with Hodei Arrastoa, Guillem Balart, Dafnis Balduz, Abdi Cherbou, Jordi Coll, Mireia Illamola, Paula Malia, Olga Onrubia, Laura Pau, Marc Rius and José Luis Salinas, and the children Arnau Cot and Jan Daniel González. A cast of leading performers, who will surely serve a good performance.

“Austen liked balls, dinners, splendor, possibly because she didn’t have it and that’s why she looked at it in a very critical way,” declares Mestres, who values ??Jon Maya’s choreographies. And Manzanares concludes: “Apart from being profound and beautiful, the show has a lot of play, so much so that to me it seems like an amusement park. We had a good time, but we also went deeper.”

Catalan version, here