For internal reasons at the Free Theatre, Julio Manrique has not yet been able to hold the press conference to present his project as a new director, but yesterday not even the witches of Macbeth could prevent him from presenting the new staging of the Scottish play, which opens next Thursday.
On the porch overlooking Plaça Margarida Xirgu of the Montjuïc building, Manrique presented the Macbeth that he was supposed to star in and that, when he learned that it would coincide with his directorial debut, he decided to give it up. Ernest Villegas, the actor who will now be Macbeth, praised this decision that honors him, and joked that he now does not know what he will do with the two tickets he had bought for the premiere.
Therefore, this February coincides with the inauguration of the new director, seconded by Ivan Benet, with the premiere of this new production by Teatre Lliure, which has been translated, adapted and directed by Pau Carrió, who assures that it contains the best verses of Shakespeare
"It is an illusion shared by all that it is the first one presented by Julio - declares Carrió-. Juan Mayorga says that the theater must be a space of peace and freedom for humanity. Macbeth explores humanity's worst possibilities. Perhaps exploring them, going down into the hells, still helps us to exorcise them and we succeed. These fears that dominate the character, that prevent him from believing in others, in friends, in women, maybe we will manage to turn them upside down and convince ourselves that heaven is on earth".
Alongside Villegas, Laia Marull plays Lady Macbeth, and the list is completed with twelve more names: Moha Amazian, Joan Amargós, Pepo Blasco, Pep Cruz, Pol López, Carles Martínez, Alba Pujol, Xavier Ricart, Marc Rodríguez, Marc Soler , Júlia Truyol and Mar Ulldemolins. "These performers are one of the best representations of the country's talent", says the director, who explains how he chooses them: "When I read, I put faces on them, take photos of the performers and post them".
How does Marull see his character? "Everybody knows, even without knowing her, that Lady Macbeth is the number one villain. The play tells us about ourselves throughout history, unfortunately. Talk about staying in power apart from power. Maybe you wanted to do something better, something good for the community, and in the end you just struggle to keep up.” "The work connects us with the present - says Villegas-. Living in fear is not living. Macbeth talks about doubt, fear, remorse and, above all, how to survive your actions, which burst your brain”.
Carrió adds: "It is the blackest work, in all the images. There is a moment when the sun rises and no one believes it. Macbeth loves himself more than the world falls apart, and all the fragments contain these reverberations. It makes me think about what things we would be able to do to stay in power, to get something we want." The director has already done four Shakespeares: "And when they ask me, I tell them it's like the Christian who prays the rosary every day."
The most veteran performer declares: "I only do theater when it excites me, and this one excites me very much. They say the crazy thing about Shakespeare is that even soldiers have ideas. Carrió has common sense, which is the least common of senses. He has this work inside and understands it deeply. In rehearsals, any doubt that came up, he had an answer. It allowed me to make a King Duncan a bit cocky, a bit Monty Python”. And he finishes: "If it were done today, the witches of Macbeth would be the media", amid general laughter.
Carrió has set the adaptation in the First World War: "I was looking at photographs of field hospitals and of the flu pandemic, before our pandemic. Macbeth is a work of war, with power terribly masculinized, but it does not take place on the battlefield, but in the castles, which are filled with the dead. Who are the witches? Women expelled from the chair, women who are not allowed to practice medicine. And as nurses, they enter and leave the room without anyone noticing," he concludes.
