“There are those who ask how it is that we still represent Romeu i Julieta and I answer that we have to continue doing it until these things stop happening”. Who expresses himself in this way is Joan Yago, the playwright of La Calòrica who signs the version of the production of La Brutal that premieres at the Poliorama. “This montage is planned full of light and life, with the intention that the public thinks that this time it will end well”, he adds.
The incorporation of the fashionable playwright is a kind of joint venture that adds attractiveness to the show directed by David Selvas: “I’ve been throwing the yews at Joan Yago for a long time and now, finally, as La Calòrica has two productions in operation with a good run, He listened to me”. It is a good reason to celebrate the ten years of La Brutal, which began its journey with L’habitació blava, by David Hare, at the Romea, “although between the procés and the covid, there have been very bad years”.
Selvas points out that they wanted to make “a less romantic version” of the Shakespeare classic, based on the translation by Yannick Garcia Porres, “with contemporary music, influenced by TikTok dances and highlighting the generational conflict, which is already in the original : Romeo and Juliet want to change the world.
The aesthetic is also very groundbreaking, “with a disco ball that also acts as the moon,” says Selvas, and with a character that symbolizes this new world. It is Mercutio, Romeo’s friend who dies in the fight between rival families and plays Guillem Balart, a fluid being who dazzles in the images passed to the press.
Balart starred in the Hamlet Aribau of La Perla 29 a few months ago, and now he plays this transgressive character: “He is a person surrounded by the violence of the Capulets and the Montagues and he finds himself in the middle,” says Balart. He is a hymn to freedom that tries to overcome these differences, and ends up killed by a rivalry that does not even know where it comes from.
He feels so good in this character, that he has dyed his hair: “This role, as David has planned it, is a gift. He is a juggler of words, a hypnotist”.
In the leading roles, Nil Cardoner is Romeo and Emma Arquillué is Juliet. Pere Arquillué’s daughter is aware of the weight of her surname: “I am proud because I did a casting, they took me for this and I want to work quietly and make my way. Since I was 4 years old my parents have taken me to the theater”.
Selvas explains the reason for this montage: “We try to generate content that attracts a young audience. It is an impossible algorithm, attracting the general public but also young people, and we thought that Romeu i Julieta was a good proposal that, moreover, had not been done for a long time. Reading it and rereading it, we saw that the generational conflict and this paradigm shift of these two lovers could be underlined, who believe they can blow up this hatred between families and overcome rivalry.”
And he adds: “We wanted to adapt this text to the contemporary world, but that 90% of the original words of Shakespeare continue to resonate. That is why we have reduced romantic love and we have killed the most corny part of Juliet. We have not added anything, but we have removed things here and there, like some of the religious references.
The cast is completed with Anna Barrachina, Albert Baró, Pau Escobar, Adrian Grösser, Xavi Ricart and Andrew Tarbet. This Romeu i Julieta proposal will be at the Poliorama for two months, from June 10, and hopes to tour later.
Catalan version, here
