Beckett throws a one-night party to celebrate Franco's death

BarcelonaWhen Franco died on November 20, 1975, those who celebrated did so at home. "Many of us started on a bottle of cava we'd been keeping in the fridge for months, but the party couldn't happen," recalls Toni Casares, director of the Sala Beckett, who was 10 years old at the time. Fifty years later, the Poblenou theater has organized a celebration-performance in collaboration with writer and director Eduard Olesti and Club Editor. The event is titled Acute renal failureThe event will take place on November 19th, starting at 9:30 p.m., and will be, above all, a joyful and carnival-like gathering with live music, surprising surprises, and texts by Mercè Rodoreda, Blai Bonet, and Joan Sales.

"The goal is to celebrate before it's too late. It has a special meaning in contemporary Europe, where many people still consider it a privilege to celebrate the death of a dictator. Sometimes joy is the best expression of people's position," emphasizes Maria Bohigas, editor at Club Editor. The publishing house chose Olesti as the mastermind behind the event after he published Standing dogsA novel that tells the story of a group of young people who want to put on a play. The writer has chosen texts from So much, so much war, by Mercè Rodoreda; The seaby Blai Bonet, and The night wind, by Joan Sales, which the poets Oriol Sauleda and Enric Lizano will recite throughout the celebration.

"It will be a one-night-only celebration haunted by the ghost of Franco. It will have a tragic undertone, because everything beautiful hides terrible things," explains Olesti, who adds that the celebration will also revolve around the idea that "a single body, that of the dictator, represented a very large political system." The event will feature live music from the Marxing Band of the Taller de Músics and set and costume design by Helena Calafell.

30 years of a theatrical pillar

Aside from this celebration, Beckett is also commemorating another anniversary this autumn: the 30th anniversary of the Hongaresa Teatre company, formed by Lluïsa Cunillé, Paco Zarzoso, and Lola López. This will begin on November 13th with the premiere ofThe salt trailA play written by Zarzoso and starring himself, Lara Salvador, and Sergi Torrecilla. "It's a play about love in the theater and love in life. I wrote it for two friends, and that's fundamental, because when you write for friends, the best of you comes out," says Zarzoso. This performance will run concurrently with another Hungaresa play currently showing. HauntThe play will be performed at La Fábrica theater, joining in the company's anniversary celebrations. It premiered ten years ago in Buenos Aires, and the company has now revived it, bringing it to Barcelona for the first time.

The Beckett's program is completed with the premiere ofIndependent Living OfficeA show by Núria Vizcarro that revolves around caregiving, functional diversity, and vulnerability. "It's a romantic comedy that deals with the issue of assisting people with disabilities in a lighthearted, yet not trivial, way," says the director, Carmen Marfà. On stage, Marina Gatell plays a woman looking for an assistant for her mother. In this process, she meets Benito (Eladio Herranz), who doesn't make things easy for her.

One of the biggest challenges of the show has been combining different accessibility resources and transforming them into artistic elements. The play includes, for example, continuous audio description by Júlia Molins, and one of the actors (Javier Díez) performs in sign language, making all performances accessible.