Cristina Genebat, Oriol Broggi and Jaume Viñas in the new season of La Perla 29

Barcelona"We like to think that in the theater we can direct such acceleration, relive life that folds upon itself for a while in order to try to understand it better," says the director of La Perla 29, Oriol Broggi, at the presentation of the new season of the Teatro de la Biblioteca de Catalunya. The course, which have already started with The storm, presents a lineup of premieres and returns, all with one thing in common: recognizing the importance of words and connecting them with the present.

Premieres

Actress and translator Cristina Genebat is embarking on a new adventure and has chosen La Perla 29 to accompany her. For the first time, Genebat will be directing a show. To the extent impossible, by Portuguese director Tiago Rodrigues, starting in February. "It's a text that moved me deeply, based on the testimony of international aid workers," explains Genebat. The cast will include Joan Amargós, Màrcia Cisteró, Andrew Tarbet, and Elena Tarrats, with music by Mürfila.

Previously, La Perla 29 will host The night just before the woods by Bernard-Marie Koltès, directed by Frenchman Cyril Desclés and performed by Marc García Coté. The monologue is a personal project by García Coté, who convinced Desclés—a regular director of Koltès's texts in France and Brazil—to perform it in Catalan. "It's a text that speaks of loneliness, but it does so with a formidable energy that Marc transmits to the stage," says Desclés. After premiering it in Barcelona in January, it will be performed in Catalan at the Anis Gras Theatre in Paris. At the end of October, the Biblioteca Theatre will host Phaedrus!, a version of the Phaedra Racine's project, driven by Swiss François Gremaud and Romain Daroles, and which is part of the Autumn Flash Festival.

The final stretch of the season will be marked by two more premieres directed by Broggi. On the one hand, La Perla 29 will move to the Sarrià Theatre with The night of the tribades, the well-known text of By Olov Enquisto which depicts the clash between playwright August Strindberg and actress Siri Von Essen, and which Fabià Puigserver directed in 1981 at the Teatre Lliure. "The Sarrià Theatre asked us if we could stage a production. We're excited to go somewhere else and reinvent it for ourselves," explains the director, who adds that "read today, this play says some horrible things, but we think it makes sense to do it to expose Strindberg."

On the other hand, the season will close with a co-production with the Grec Festival entitled The dawn and written by Jaume Viñas. It's a piece that explores the Civil War, the postwar period, the Transition to Spain, and the Olympic era to explore family legacies and the weight of memory. "I wrote to her ten years ago, when at various family lunches and dinners I began to hear things I didn't know. I realized that the women in my family have suffered greatly," Viñas says.

Returns

Alongside the premieres, La Perla 29's season will also see the return of several hit shows. A third season will be coming in the fall. The braid, the show directed by Clara Segura about three women born on different continents. Around Christmas, the company will revive—with virtually the entire original cast—one of its most tender and traditional productions: Christmas at the Cupiello house, by Eduardo De Filippo. Also during the holidays, La Perla 29 will be repeating two of its most iconic family productions: Mac Mec Mic, the work of the most beloved puppet of SX3, will be in its second season at SAT! Theatre and The Little Prince will return, for the 12th consecutive year, this time to the stage of the Paral·lel 62 hall.