Heroes, special effects and violence in the operatic premiere of Nao Albet and Marcel Borràs
'The Stunned', which is performed at Teatre Lliure, combines lyric singing and action specialists with 21 people on stage
Barcelona"We are excited by the idea of risk, the thought that we can make mistakes and that this can be a creative engine," says actor and director Nao Albet to explain why, together with his professional adventure partner Marcel Borràs, he has decided to dive into opera. The artistic duo — responsible for shows like Falsestuff (2018, Premi Max)— have written, directed, and will perform from April 15th to May 3rd Els Estunmen at the Teatre Lliure de Montjuïc. It is a contemporary opera with music by Fernando Velázquez, a live orchestra from the Gran Teatre del Liceu, and 21 people on stage.
After opting for austerity in De Nao Albet i Marcel Borràs (their previous show and a piece in which the two artists were alone on stage with two chairs), they now jump to the opposite extreme with a scenic artifact that seeks to transcend the cliché of the hero through oversaturation. Els Estunmen explores this archetype through a group of stunts, film specialists who double the actors in dangerous scenes. "Their ability to recreate falls, fights, and explosions is an aesthetic engine that greatly attracted our attention," explains Albet.
From this profession, they built a dramaturgy about how the figure of the hero has been configured throughout history and how it has always been linked to violence. "Films are spaces where collectivity mirrors itself. We wanted to question them, talk about their dark parts and how the hero has configured the neoliberal character of our society," emphasizes Borràs. With this approach, they allied with Óscar Dorta, an action specialist who coordinated the team of stunts for the show.
The loss of a child
How is the work of specialists linked to lyrical singing? The production stars Evangeline (Núria Lloansi), a woman who has lost her son and is undergoing a journey of transformation. Throughout the journey, she will be accompanied by an omnipresent voice performed by mezzo-soprano Sandra Ferrández, and the group of heroes embodied by the stunts will also have, in the shadows, the singing of a countertenor, two tenors, and a bass. "Action specialists are often invisible. Here they take off their masks and speak to us directly," defends Borràs.
Borràs and Albet will also be on stage embodying two ancient poets whom Evangeline seeks out after suffering the tragedy. In this way, the authors and directors link the show with a previous work, Els esqueiters (2014), which gave prominence to a group of international skaters. There, Borràs and Albet played two Western Golden Age philosophers and also sought to work with people who do not usually tread the boards of a theatre. The scenography, by Max Glaenzel, transports the audience "to the nerve center of the dramatic accident" with the intention, according to Borràs, "of connecting violence and the figure of the hero with a vision of the future".
The music for Els Estunmen was composed by Fernando Velázquez, creator of the soundtracks for films such as A Monster Calls (2016) and The Impossible (2012). "I have worked with a lot of referential music and also my own. I am of the opinion that there is no need to look for new languages, that languages already exist. We just need to go and find them to create new things," says Velázquez, who is also debuting in the world of opera.
When writing the libretto, Albet and Borràs had certain reservations about Catalan. "Opera makes us respectful, and we thought that if lyrical singing is in German or Italian, we believe it more. But in the end, we decided to do it mostly in Catalan as a brave gesture, to overcome that fear," states Borràs, who adds that the show "is intense and reflective and will feature unusual elements." For these latter elements, they have particularly relied on the collaboration of the special effects company In Extremis.