In 1972, Comediants was born, a street theater that combined popular traditions with Mediterranean imagery. The company based in Canet de Mar has reached half a century of existence with the satisfaction of having completed an innovative artistic journey, which has paved the way for a way of doing things that bears its own name. On the occasion of this round anniversary and the end of the stage, Joan Font (Olesa de Montserrat, 1949), the stage director and one of its founders, has created a montage based on the book he wrote with Piti Español, Joan Font. The discovery of a new theatrical language The show is titled El venedor de fum and, after the premiere at FiraTàrrega, it is now presented at the Poliorama theater in Barcelona in a single performance, on March 5.
How do you plan the show?
The fum vendor is one of the 50th anniversary events. Our headline was Endreçar la mòria, because we have been a disaster in this aspect. Those who have come later manage information better and know its importance. We, on the other hand, were more hippies, the important thing was the present, and the reflections will be made by someone else. From the book that comes out of the conversation with Piti Español we illuminate a show that tells about my life.
An artistic life of 50 years.
I think it is beautiful because it is a journey that begins with Franco and now we are with high technology. We have defended our own theater with our own language.
And with this language they have acted everywhere.
Since what we tell is true, because it is in our roots, we can cross borders. The shows are image, music, sensations, emotions, surprise, magic, body expression, dance… and for 30 years we have not given value to the text.
They export our tradition.
That’s like when Pina Bausch came and we said: can that be done? Well, when we went to Berlin, they asked themselves: Can this be done and also go out into the streets?
And they have created a school.
Yes, there have been copies, in the good sense of the word, that use the Comediants language: the Mediterranean demons, the goblins and the fauns… The closing of Barcelona’92 was a traditional party, with demons and fire, with the elves that create the universe, and the paper boat toy…
Does all this appear in El venedor de fum?
The show is this journey without many pretensions. It is very complicated to be able to make a common thread, because it would take me four hours. I give lectures at universities and theater schools, and people applaud as if it were a show.
Have you turned it around and now give a lecture show?
It is like that, yes, with some element such as music, projections, masks or a jacket, because a young person who has never seen us knows it and ends up asking: can that be done? Well yes, because we have created our own language. Salvador Sunyer (Temporada Alta) wrote about that first time, with La Fura, Carles Santos and us, and said: “They performed in Tokyo and the next day they did it in my town.” Or at any major festival. That is the greatness of the theatrical moment: we performed in Avignon, at the Venice Biennale, and in all the towns.
And from the main festival to the world.
When I tell adventures, there are those who tell me: “Where you haven’t been, we’ll finish sooner.” When we performed the first time in Sydney, they had never seen a demon show or street theater before. Between the Opera House and the Botanical Gardens with the ancient tree, we put on Australia’s first street show. Now they have an important street theater festival.
How would you define that language?
Very visual and surprising, on the tightrope between dream and reality, reality and unreality, wonder and roots, which has no space limitations. We have performed on boats, on trains. Our art goes out to people, and that’s what’s fantastic. From a very young age we went to schools, to markets, to discos.
Why is there no continuity?
We had recruited young people, but it is a poisoned gift. And in 2008, with the crisis, everything went to hell because, since we act in the street, people don’t pay and the city councils have to do it. So, as our manager said, the important thing became filling the refrigerator.
What would have been the solution?
Well, what would have happened like in Canada with Cirque du Soleil, which has institutional support that we haven’t had here. A fantastic and necessary National Theater was created for classical theatre, but more national theaters should have been created for other theaters with international projection, from Pep Bou and his bubbles, to all the others. The country stopped betting on its own unique theater. We premiered the Sala Petita with T.E.M.P.U.S., and we have put on operas at the Liceu, I mean I am speaking correctly.
When will it end?
With a creator as raw as me, it will cost a lot, because I have many projects underway and there are many people asking me for collaborations. But Comediants does, because of the infrastructure that must be maintained. Now we are taking a lot of material to the Museu de les Arts Escèniques.
Catalan version, here
