After five months of absence, the director of the theater group Focus, Daniel Martínez de Obregón, reappeared yesterday on the stage of the Goya theater to give good news. The first, that the group will open a new theater in Barcelona, ??and the second the very good figures from last season, in which they broke records.
With 75 years just completed, the soul of Focus announced this new educational project and the theater room, which will be located at the group’s headquarters in Poblenou. Its name will be Genesis, in tribute to the founding company of the group. Regarding the figures for the 22-23 season, he spoke of “total recovery of the activity, with 413,000 spectators and more than 9 million receipts, which represent 20% and 30% respectively on the figures of the “previous year”. With an average of 347 performances per theater, there have been 14 productions, 15 co-productions and a budget of 14 million. “We offer the theaters as decompression islands”, he declared.
Playing with and questioning artificial intelligence, which turned the Goya theater into Maja Desnuda, Focus also presented the programming of its four Barcelona theaters for the 23-24 season. The general director of art and content of the group, César Martínez, was in charge of “dialogue” with Alexia, a kind of AI that was not correct in its guesses. The vice president of Focus, Jordi González, as well as the directors of the other three rooms, Daniel Anglès (Condal), Josep Maria Pou (Romea) and Tania Brenlle (La Villarroel), also fought with Alexia to summarize the shows that will be shown its theatres, in a balance between new proposals and reruns of highly successful works from recent seasons.
Among the novelties, Julio Manrique will direct Love, love, love, with reference to the first song broadcast via satellite (La Villarroel); Ramon Madaula presents Conqueridors, directed by Josep Maria Mestres (Goya); Héctor Claramunt and Joel Joan return with Escape Room 2 (Condal); the T de Teatre premiere La dona phantasma (Romea); Joan Pera will arrive for Christmas with Tot l’any can be Nadal (Condal), Pau Carrió will direct Elling (La Villarroel) and the spirit of George A. Romero will take over the Parallel with La noche de los muertos vivientes ¡Live ! (County).
Josep Maria Flotats directs and stars in Voltaire / Rousseau La disputa (Romea); Lluís Homar and Adriana Ozores will interpret Alma y palabra (Romea); Belén Rueda will be Salomé (Goya); Carlos Hipólito will star in Burro (Romea); Carmelo Gómez brings Las guerras de nuestros antepasados, by Miguel Delibes (Goya); Pep Tosar will present the show Amb la claredat augmenta el fred (Romea), and the company La Zaranda returns with Manual para armar un sueño (Romea)
If you haven’t seen them yet, it’s time to enjoy the replacement of shows endorsed by critics and the public, such as the extraordinary monologues by Joan Carreras, Història d’un senglar (La Villarroel), and Pere Arquillué, The most beautiful body that will ever be found in this place (Romea). Likewise, Clara Segura returns with La trena, the piece based on the novel by Laetitia Colombani (Goya), Julio Manrique and Sergi Pompermayer with America (La Villarroel), Sergi Belbel and Emma Vilarasau with Lali Symon (Romea), the ‘endearing musical by Jumon Erra, Daniela Feixas and Miquel Tejada Un amor particular (Condal), and Marc Artigau with the delicious L’illa deserta (La Villarroel).
In the final parliament, Martínez de Obregón also revealed the secrets of “artificial intelligence” to the theater professionals who attended the event. On the one hand, Alexia was embodied by a flesh and blood actress, Alexia Pascual (Euphória). And for the other, the music was performed live by five musicians hidden at the back of the stage. An agile and fun act, which highlighted the craftsmanship of the theater and which honored the group’s objective: to offer quality entertainment.
