"Those of us who are dedicated to programming performing arts know that with English companies it is very complicated." The director of Temporada Alta, Salvador Sunyer, could not hide the satisfaction of having managed to bring to Girona in this edition the English company Complicité, directed by Simon McBurney, who had never been to the festival and had not performed in Catalonia for six years . Complicité will present Drive your plow over the bones of the dead (Pass the plow over the bones of the dead), a piece of environmental denunciation, based on the controversial novel by the Polish Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk.
Although he is one of the stars of the international firmament of this edition, McBurney's show is not the only thing, in a program where this aspect is increasingly consolidated, to "bring things from outside that, otherwise, we could not see", declares Sunyer. There are 20 international productions of a total of 99 shows, with about 160 performances, including forty premieres. Tickets with a 15% discount on Vanguard Tickets.
At the head of the Belgian company NTGent, the Swiss Milo Rau presents the work Familie, inspired by the real case of an entire family that committed suicide in Calais in 2007. And the German Thomas Ostermeier, the third star of this particular selection, directs the fashionable author of the European theater, Édouard Louis, who signs the text and stars in the show for a single man Qui a tué mon père (Who has killed my father), where he presents a crude analysis of the working class.
Among the international proposals, Temporada Alta, which is expanding throughout the territory, has chosen two to present in Barcelona: The Goldberg variations, BWV 988, by the Rosas company, with the solo by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and the piano by Alain Franco , which will be seen at the Mercat de les Flors. Bach provides the music for one of the twelve contemporary dance shows in this edition. “It has gone like this”, Sunyer justifies himself, who acknowledges that, on the other hand, this year there are not so many circuses.
The other Barcelona show is the revival of La Douleur, based on the diaries of Marguerite Duras. With the complicity of Thierry Thieû Niang, Patrice Chéreau directed Dominique Blanc, who returned to the festival a decade after the director's death. Before, in 2008, Girona was the scene of the world premiere. This moving monologue can be seen at the Romea Theatre. “We do it in memory of Chéreau and we are very excited about it,” confesses Sunyer.
Among the productions and co-productions, the new show by Angélica Liddell stands out, which once again makes its world premiere in Girona. In this case it is a six-hour text play, Voodoo (3318) Blixen, which talks about her death. Rosa Renom and Jordi Boixaderas will read the love letters between María Casares and Albert Camus; Míriam Iscla will read Simone Weil in the cathedral of Girona; and Pol López will do it with L'anticrist by Nietzsche, but in this case it will be in the La Planeta room.
As in previous editions, El Canal - Center d'Arts Escèniques will host several of these shows, with the good news that the management of the theater has been resolved with continuous activity. Jordi Viñas, the mayor of Salt, where El Canal is located, announced that "it had run aground, with activities open to the public, projects to support creation, etc."
The festival director was "super happy" with the news, but acknowledged that there is a lack of an open theater in Girona and Salt, "but that is up to the City Council." For this reason, shows like Diptych, by Peeping Tom, are held in Figueres, “because it's the only place where it could be done, and that of the Rosas company, at the Mercat de les Flors, the same thing. A city that wants to promote contemporary creation needs it ”, he concluded.
Catalan version, here
