Catalan director Calixto Bieito’s The Great Theatre of the World is a lavish contemporary baroque opera based on 17th century playwright Calderón de la Barca’s (1600 – 1681) textual “experiment” Life is a Dream (1635/6): an epic contemplation of fate and free will, fact and fiction and the meaning of life in general. Pedro An almost-contemporary of… Read more »
Category: Theatre
WHAT’S BACK ON? Dubte / Doubt
Until June 9, 2013 … Multiple award-winning actress Rosa Maria Sardà (Todo sobre mi madre, Te doy mis ojos) plays the authoritarian busybody Sister Aloysius in Dubte, a Catalan version of Doubt, John Patrick Shanley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play from 2004. Set in a Catholic school in the 1960’s Bronx, Sister Aloysius is the strict school principal who sets about destroying the reputation of… Read more »
REVIEW: Vesturport/Kafka – Metamorphosis
Physical theatre troupe from Iceland, Vesturport, present Franz Kafka’s preposterous psychological fable, Metamorphosis. Visually ingenious and pantomimesque, is it deeply cynical or disturbingly shallow? One night only! The play is in English with surtitles above the stage in Catalan. Saturday July 7th, 8.30pm, theatre Lluire. Click here to get a ticket – for web in English and more… Read more »
REVIEW: Pau Miró’s Els Jugadors (The Players)
Prolonged! See it at Lliure – Gràcia between 20th June and 1st July. It’s one of those Barcelona kitchens that look like it was added on as an afterthought. A microwave best kept clear of, a crappy radio, empty bottles of Gin Giro clustering on grimy surfaces with other even less salubrious brands.
WHAT’S ON? Ras Teatre take on The Lonesome West
A Catalan stage version of Martin McDonagh’s black comedy The Lonesome West (1997) was a valiant stab at the British-Irish playwright’s vicious satire of Irish, and modern, life.
Divisions, a play on Oedipus
Formed part of the Mostra Sonora i Visual del Convent de Sant Agustí. June 7th, 8.30pm Convent de Sant Agustí C/Comerç 36 map here At Barcelona’s alternative theatre space Nau Ivanow, local collective Tuvulú presented their latest work of intrigue: Divisions, a sophisticated piece of puppet theatre based on the bloody Greek tragedy Oeidipus Rex. IN PLAY We… Read more »
REVIEW: Can We Talk About This? DV8 Physical Theatre
There’s something slightly aggressive about the title of Lloyd Newson’s verbose dance/theatre piece, on at Barcelona’s Mercat de les Flors this weekend. Like downloading 40 podcasts from BBC Radio 4’s Today news programme then listening to 10 minutes from the end of each, the acclaimed choreographer of award-winning ‘physical theatre’ troupe DV8 seeks to stimulate debate about… Read more »
REVIEW: Divisions: the hand of fate
Tonight only … Divisions, a multi-sensorial representation of Sophocles’ classic Oedipus Rex, is a hi-tech, tragi-comic, mini-masterpiece.
REVIEW: Quitt, a convenient truth
The Spanish press called it ‘relevant’, ‘prescient’ even ‘prophetic’ (La Vanguardia). Quitt, based on the 1973 play by Austrian political playwright Peter Handke, and adapted for the Teatre Lliure by artistic director Lluís Pascual, was a thoughtful and entertaining piece – yet it was too easy on the audience.
WHAT’S ON? Quitt
Lluís Pasqual, director of Barcelona’s most international theatre, Teatre Lliure, has announced that a government budget cut of €614.000 has forced the theatre to end its main season in May, and cancel three productions in their entirety.