An unknown Woolf for a magnificent new theatre
Albert Arribas and a large cast take a risk with 'Freshwater'
- Author: Virginia Woolf
- Dramaturgy: Albert Arribas and Lluïsa Cunillé
- Performers: Míriam Alemán, Paula Blanco, Cristi Garbo, Mario Gas, Antonia Jaume, Marta Ossó, Carlos Martínez, Pep Munné, Albert de la Torre
- The Factory
- Until October 26
We must applaud the commitment and daring of the promoters of the new La Fàbrica theater. Despite knowing firsthand the economic risks of the theater business (so to speak), since they also manage the La Gleva theater, they are now investing enormous amounts of money in a cultural facility with two theaters (one with 200 seats) and a bar. The capacity is important because in Barcelona's theater landscape, there are many small theaters that don't even hold 100 spectators and that have difficulty surviving and limited production possibilities.
A new theater that ignores the inherent risks of this activity (if theater were a business, banks would have a handful) and opens with Virginia Woolf's only play, never performed in our country and probably rarely performed in more traditional theater-cultural environments.
The playwright and director of the proposal is Albert Arribas, responsible for hits such as a version of The Bacchae by Euripides (which will be revived in the new theatre) or The dog by Lluïsa Cunillé in La Gleva, who asserts that Woolf is "probably one of the finest playwrights Western theatre has produced, although this great quality has not been acknowledged." This is partly understandable because, while the English writer's novels possess a notable theatricality and have therefore been adapted for the stage, her only work written for the stage reveals the difficulties and demands of theatrical writing in relation to literary writing.
Arribas and Cunillé do not situate us well in the context in which Woolf wrote it, nor do they fully outline what they want to talk to us about, beyond generic features about art, artists, and society. The proposal suffers from a slow pace that does not play into its favor, except for the suggestive, exquisite, and dynamic love scene between Marta Ossó (the painter's wife) and Paula Blanco (a sailor on the ground). The proposal has a final coda that includes an article on feminine vindication by Virginia Woolf. And this is worth it.
