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The history of the Teatro Condal, in the old Calle del Marqués del Duero 93 – 95, begins in 1904, at the same time that the history of its predecessor, the Gran Teatro Onofri, ends.
With the farewell of the Onofri, on Sunday June 12, 1904, its owner Manuel Suñer i Sucarrats, carried out some slight reforms to be able to reopen the premises, as the Gran Teatro Condal.
It was on Wednesday, June 22, 1904, with the premiere of the lyrical dance show in 4 acts and 16 scenes, Infierno, with sets by Soler and Eovirosa Moragas and Chía and a wealth of costumes and props.
Given the lack of public attendance at the shows, it gradually disappeared from the billboards of the newspapers and was sunk into oblivion for the spectators.
With more pain than glory, in 1906, he thought of resorting again to the Onofri brothers, to carry out a new campaign and attract the unconditional mime and Onofri family back to the theater.
He prepares a famous comeback with advertisements in the newspapers, in which the name of the Onofri family stands out above all, who reappeared before the Barcelona public on July 14, 1906 with their Roger de Lauria show.
Once again, the Teatro Condal is on the billboards announcing the following shows it is presenting, among which the mime drama in 13 scenes stood out: The Gravedigger of the San Nicolás Cemetery.
The company managed to attract its fans until after the Christmas holidays, saying goodbye on January 6, 1907, with the performance of Corazón de Hiena or El túnel de la Muerte.
With the end of the Onofri stay, the theater falls back into anonymity and only appears on billboards on weekends to offer a brief: Gran Salón Café Condal, concerts Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
It did not appear in the newspapers again until Monday, August 12, 1907, and it was not to comment on any upcoming premiere, but to comment on an unpleasant incident during a meeting held the previous Sunday. La Vanguardia, on its page 2, published two columns: Riotous Meeting, one dead and two wounded.
Said meeting should have been held the previous week at a location on Calle de Mercaders and could not be held because it did not have all the requirements to be able to hold public events.
The problem began when Noi de Sucre, who had been released from jail a few days before and who had entered the theater without being recognized, went on stage to deny some reports issued by a daily publication.
Salvador Seguí Rubinat, the Noi de Sucre, was a prominent anarcho-syndicalist. Secretary General of the CNT of Catalonia. He was deported in November 1920 to the castle of La Mola (Mahón). And he was shot to death at the corner of Cadena Street and Sant Rafael, on March 10, 1923.
On August 12, on page 2, La Vanguardia published in two columns what happened at the Teatro Condal, with the name of the unfortunate 23-year-old who lived on San Juan de Malta street with his mother.
Manuel Suñer continued with his attempts to relaunch the venue, with varied programming: zarzuela, varieties, circus and personal performances, in which he even hired Manolo Utor, known as El Musclaire. And he came to announce: “The cheapest place in Paralelo, with a price of only 5 cents”, when the average price was 15. But he failed to attract a regular public, remaining closed for seasons.
In 1910 he again made what would be his last attempt to relaunch it, with a restoration, which he inaugurated on Saturday, May 21, presenting the opera company of the maestros Arturo Barata and Eafart, with the opera Aida. It was the last attempt by Manuel Suñer to continue with the management of the Teatro Condal.
Tired of the continuous failures to relaunch the Teatro Condal, in 1911, Suñer decided to hand over the management of the theater to Joan Mestres i Calvet, who was breaking into the theater world and who he later directed, between the periods 1915-16, 1918- 30, 1933-36 and 1939-47, the programming of the Gran Teatro del Liceo. Checking the mass offer of theaters in the area, it was decided to take advantage of the takeoff that the cinema was having at that time to carry out a reform and turn it into the Cine Condal.
Mestres, who owned the Bohemia cinema, had seen the scarcity of cinemas in the area and decided that since the Bohemia in Floridablanca is close to Condal and that with the well-known cyclist method, he can use the same advertisement and the same films in the two cinemas.
El Condal is inaugurated on Saturday, August 5, 1911, as a cool, comfortable and cheap place. With a selection of films (in those days they were short films). Given the acceptance as a movie venue, it became part of the group of four cinemas that programmed in two groups, on January 2, 1913, the one with the Walkyria and the Bohemia with Iris-Park.
On April 5, 1925, it became part of the group of Spanish cinemas and theaters that installed the fire alarm service of the company Avisador Guardian, S.A.
At the beginning of 1928, problems were detected in the structure of the premises, for which reason he urgently carried out some works, so that the premises closed. However, at the beginning of February the Civil Government provided the following note to the press:
Having carefully recognized the Cine Condal, the governor states that in the last session held by the local Provincial Health Subcommittee, this matter was dealt with, and taking into account the reports issued by the Subcommittee technicians, who have made the visits of Inspection of the said hall, verifying that recently, having carried out consolidation works that, although provisional, avoid danger to the public, it was agreed to authorize its operation, without occupying the upper galleries, but only until June 30, after which date It must carry out the radical and definitive works that the local Provincial Health Subcommittee deems necessary to authorize its reopening.
The arrival of talkies marks a new change in its programming and it becomes part of the Great National Company CINAES, which conditions it with the new Western Electric sound devices, which are inaugurated on Saturday, November 20, 1930, projecting : Fox Sonora Magazine, FOX Sound Newscast, Cartoons and the feature film La Señorita Rocambole, by Lily Damita, an exclusive Torres.
Once again, discrepancies with his programming made him change companies and, on April 26, 1935, he became part of the Capitol distribution company and, although initially the advertisements were published as usual, as of May 1 , he begins to do them in Catalan.
On Saturday, July 18, 1936, the day of the coup, he announces a continuous session with: Silk Legs, in Spanish, by Rosita Moreno and Raúl Roulieo; Great Illusions, by Philips Holmes, and The Rustler’s Son, by Buck Jones, and Drawings (as an anecdote, it is worth mentioning that the ad was in Catalan and Spanish, mixing the two languages).
After the war, he appears alone on February 10, with a large advertisement with the well-known phrases of “Long live Franco!” and “Up Spain!”, announcing: The wagon of death, Spy No. 13 and The Milky Way.
On Sunday, May 25, 1963, he closed his doors to tear it down and build a new building, projecting the Whole Truth, His Only Desire and the No-Do.
During its demolition on September 7, 1963, the worker Joaquín Suárez Ücla fell from a height of 12 meters suffering injuries with a reserved prognosis, being admitted to a private clinic.
On Thursday, February 27, 1969, the new cinema opened at 10:30 a.m., with a solemn inauguration dedicated to the Board of Trustees for Old Age of District II and with the screening of the first film starring Princess Ira de Furstenberg, Anywhere price, and the documentary Api’s adventure. The ad ended with something that would cause a great impact today: “Insured parking on Tapiolas street, in front of the cinema.”
In 1983, its owners permanently transformed it into a theater space, for the new Paral·lel. It was inaugurated on Tuesday, December 6, with the premiere of the play El caso de la mujer asesinadita, original by Miguel Mihura and Álvaro de la Iglesia, with Amparo Rivelles, Ana María Vidal, Javier Escrivá and Ismael Merlo.
Currently, it continues as the Teatro Condal.
