Life and miracles of Joan Pera

Barcelona"My life has always been a bit like an auca," states Joan Pera. That's why, when he decided to write a show about his life, his comedies, feelings, and memories, he thought of doing it with this structure of panels in which, alone on stage, he reviews his career with a comic tone: when he went to school, when he started dedicating himself to theater, when Capri, Paco Morán, and Woody Allen appeared in his life. L'auca del senyor Pera, directed by two of his usual accomplices, Daniel Anglès and Jaume Viñas, is playing starting this Thursday at the Teatre Condal.

Many years have passed since he debuted in amateur theater at fifteen – since he made the professional leap more than sixty years ago – and Pera continues to ask himself a question: "How have I gotten here?" he says. And instead of answering it with a biography or a biopic, showing off his love for popular theater, he opts for a format "so ours and so endearing" as the auca. "You see your whole life with these fun and nice little pieces of things that happen to you," he explains. The play also goes through snippets of personal life, such as his family: his wife, whom he met at 12 years old, and his six sons. He assures that he hasn't had to invent anything: "These are things that have happened to me, even if I exaggerate them a bit." The only fiction, he says, is God, who scolds him for making people laugh and who plays Mr. Marcel·lí.

and sometimes you would kill the bad guy. Theatre is life", he concludes.

happenings and sometimes you'd kill the bad guy. Theater is life," he concludes.