When the Cabosanroque sound art duo, made up of Laia Torrents and Roger Aixut, were preparing their latest work Flors i viatges, a show that closes their trilogy of immersive installations dedicated to the free interpretation of Catalan authors and which they have premiered this Thursday in Temporada Alta, it exploded the war in Ukraine.
A coincidence that allowed them to "put the tie", as they themselves admit, to a show that makes us reflect on war, "all wars, not just the one in Ukraine" and its consequences from the perspective of women and children.
Like the Ukrainian refugees welcomed by the residents of the Sant Narcís neighborhood of Girona at the outbreak of the war and who give voice, through sound and visual recordings, to fragments of the work Viatges i flors (1980), a collection of short and fanciful narratives of Mercè Rodoreda, who fled two wars.
“Finding the war as a common thread in this work by Rodoreda was not so obvious, his stories may seem dark and fantastic, but if you do a rereading you find it, the war”, explains Torrents.
The other literary thread comes from the hand of the journalist and writer Nobel Prize for Literature, the Belarusian Svetlana Alexievich, who during her career has dedicated herself to knowing the stories of people affected by the most tragic events experienced in her country, including the Second World War.
At the beginning of the show, the actress Mónica López gives voice, through a sound recording, to fragments of Death has no face of a woman and Last witnesses, in which the author collects testimonies from victims of the Second World War.
A reflection on the war and its consequences embodied in the particular sound and visual universe of the artistic duo, which emerged in Barcelona in 2001 and has settled in Banyoles for seven years. A universe in which neither actors nor musicians appear on stage; the only ones who fill the stage are the people in the audience, sitting on stools, and surrounded by light, sound, musical or audiovisual resources.
A work that, apart from Mónica López, has had the recorded participation of the dancer Rocío Molina, the actress Núria Martínez Vernis, the Cor de Teatre company and the singer-songwriter Núria Graham, with the song Strange fruit, popularized by Billy Holiday
However, all the sounds that appear are built live thanks to the peculiar and elaborate installations of their creators: articulated horse skulls, stones that thunder, flowers that emit sounds...
After passing through Temporada Alta, the show can be seen in the coming months at the Teatro del Español in the Matadero, in Madrid; at the Center for Contemporary Culture with the Grec Festival, and later at the Théâtre Garonne in Tolouse and at the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya.
The work, which premiered this Thursday, can continue to be seen this weekend and between November 16 and 18 at various times in the break room of the Teatre Municipal de Girona. With this performance, the company closes a trilogy that has allowed them to enter the world of Joan Brossa, with the show No em van fer Joan Brossa and the diaries of exorcisms by Jacint Verdaguer, with the play Dimonis
