Fàtima is a girl who lives in the Raval, one of the most degraded neighborhoods in Barcelona, and moves between the unreal reality that surrounds her and her own imagination, fueled by a lost life. Around her move characters such as a shopkeeper, a regular at the Filmoteca, a drug dealer, a policeman, the roommate; but she also interacts with a rat, a cat and a seagull, a varied fauna.
With these elements, the playwright Jordi Prat i Coll builds Fàtima, a bloody fable that takes place in the neighborhood where he himself has lived for twenty years and where he has witnessed "shaking beasts". El Raval “is like a city within the city, a periphery in the center, a labyrinth”, explains the author and director. "There is a woman, who could be me, who comes from town, who makes a bad decision and goes to hell, where we know how to get in, but not how to get out."
Thus, bad decisions, which are the ones that end up marking people's lives, are the basis of this piece, which is performed on a spectacular stage, the work of Marc Salicrú, inside the box of the Teatre Lliure de Gràcia: a stairway full of dirt, which is surrounded by arches reminiscent of the Montjuïc theater, if it were not for the fact that they are marked by degradation. "The room presents a space that has never been seen before, which makes us proud, and there are nods to Fabià Puigserver", says Prat i Coll.
In the Raval, the author has lived with a narco-apartment: “The work presents a portrait of today's society, honest, which moves me. You often realize that some people are close to not being a part of society. And that is part of what determines capitalism.”
Because drugs are one of the many bad decisions made by Fàtima, a character played by Queralt Casasayas, who in real life is also a resident of the Raval, just like the actor Sergi Torrecilla, who plays the role of the camel and declares: “I have seen many things, also a lot of institutional violence, and I think it's nice that the suburb can be praised, because nothing is hidden in the Raval, that's why the characters are so rich”.
With them, the group of marginalized beings stand out in the interpretations of Mercè Arànega, Albert Ausellé, Tilda Espluga, Jordi Figueras and Daniela Fumadó. Perhaps we have to highlight, among many brilliant moments, the final monologue of the flatmate, which the young actress Daniela Fumadó executes sublimely. Fátima premiered at the Grec festival and now opens the season of the Teatre Lliure de Gràcia until October 23.
Catalan version, here
