"Bonobo is a desperate road movie, it is a flight forward", explains its director and playwright, Josep Julien. Thus, he presents the work that will arrive at the National Theater of Catalonia on October 24 and will occupy the Tallers Hall until December 4.
"My family and I had the misfortune of living very closely the persecution and death of the young terrorist," explained its director at the presentation of the work. On the afternoon of August 21, 2017, the Mossos de Esquadra gunned down Younes, a 20-year-old man, in a vineyard in the municipality of Subirats, next to where Julien lives. The boy was responsible for the attack on the Ramblas in Barcelona.
"This experience moved me a lot, seeing how people threw carnations at the Mossos for having shot down the young man... A feeling of deep sadness ran through me that I thought had great literary potential," Julien clarified.
In this way, Moha Amazian plays the same young terrorist, but who experiences a situation at a gas station on the way to Las Ramblas that makes him change the course of his impending tragedy. This is how the escape begins, the road movie that Julien wanted to stage to promote a reflection on the most human part of this story.
The author has made it clear: "I do not intend to romanticize a terrorist act or a criminal, I simply believe that good theater brings you closer to inner conflict and not to complacency." This is how Julien has chosen to humanize Younes and show that to reach the extreme of the attack, the whole society did something wrong, not just the young radicals.
"It is true that I represent the stereotype of a young man of Arab origin who is highly stigmatized. However, the work does not focus on Islamic culture or religion, but on much more universal and painful human issues, with which everyone can identify themselves", explained the leading actor, Moha Amazian.
On stage, Amazin is accompanied by the music and questioning presence of Neus Ballbé. "It is also a victory for us to arrive on the stage of the TNC without being a profile of people who normally fill these rooms", added the protagonist.
Bonobo will arrive on November 24 at the Sala Tallers of the National Theater of Catalonia. The work enters the theater's programming thanks to the Quim Masó Professional Theater Award. Bonobo is also included in the programming of the Temporada Alta 2022 festival, where it will premiere on November 11 at El Canal - Center for Performing Arts in Girona.
