Lluís Homar continues to launch new proposals based on the Castilian classics of the Golden Age from the Compañía Nacional de Teatro Clásico. On this occasion, it is about The Discreet Lover, a work from the early seventeenth century that meets all the requirements for entanglements and comedy, in which Lope de Vega was a master, and which is now coming to the Romea theater in Barcelona.
The play tells the story of Fenisa, a girl who deceives her mother's plans to marry whomever she wants. "It is amazing how Lope spoke of women. The protagonist is a woman who basically wants to decide on her own life, so that nobody decides for her," says the actress Montse Díez.
Both Homar and Díez are veteran interpreters, "because in Lope the parents always come out", the director justifies himself, who in this case directs the Joven Compañía Nacional de Teatro Clásico, and who appears on stage to give life to the character of the Captain.
The discreet lover presents a modern set design, a mixture of old and modern costumes, with a scaffold, electric guitars and neon lights that read: "Hope" (hope). When Josep Maria Pou saw the stage for the first time, he read "Lope", a coincidence that the company celebrates for his poetic message.
"We respect the baroque verse, of course - Homar emphasizes -. The costumes refer us to the time by the shape, but the colors and the open space want to present an urban tribe. The parents represent the old regime: 'You only have to look at the land that you have to step on', the mother tells Fenisa". And she adds: "We do this not to be modern, but to be contemporary."
"The work belongs to the moment in which the commercial theater was forged, the comedy pens, everything began to depend on the box office income - continues the director -. They had to do it well so that the public returned. It is popular theater, for the general public, made with quality. Lope is a privileged poet, his lyrics are incomparable. What fascinates me is how he transfers life to the stage".
On this stage, the 14 performers remain during the two hours that the play lasts, plus 15 technicians who enter and leave the stage, "without the scenes".
And the music is by Marc Servera, who is also on stage: "I have proposed a harmonic base and we have composed it together. We also interpret some verses by Lope that we have set to music. And there is a version of Vestida de nit, by Sílvia Pérez Cruz, at the proposal of Homar".
After Madrid and Malaga, the new production by the Joven Compañía Nacional de Teatro Clásico opens on May 17 at the Romea Theatre, where it can be seen until June 4.
