White smoke: Julio Manrique (Barcelona, 1973) will be the new director of the Teatre Lliure. There have been no surprises, because the theater director and actor was among the last candidates who chose to occupy the position, although in the last few hours the officialist candidate Borja Sitjà had sounded strongly.
Manrique is well known to the general public for his acting career, which has also been enriched by his work as a director. At the moment he is about to premiere Mike Bartlett's work Love Love Love at La Villarroel. To his credit is the artistic direction of the Romea theater between 2010 and 2015.
The theater director was one of the candidates who had the greatest consensus among the profession, so the news has been very well received. In the absence of further details, the current director of the Grec, Cesc Casadesús, who finishes his mandate at the Barcelona festival in the next edition, will be his second.
The election of Julio Manrique is in line with the Teatre Lliure's tradition of appointing directors artistically linked to the profession to the position. For a time he will live with the current director, Juan Carlos Martel, to carry out a suitable replacement.
