A major production of 'The Threepenny Opera' to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Grec and the Lliure
Marta Pazos will direct the opening show of the festival and the theater season, which will feature performers such as Nao Albet, Eduard Farelo, Míriam Moukhles and Julia Truyol
BarcelonaIt's rare that the press area at the Teatre Lliure is so crowded the company presenting the show that it's practically bursting at the seams. This Monday was no exception, but the overcrowding was justified: the Grec Festival and the Teatre Lliure are celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2026, and to mark the occasion, they've decided to pull out all the stops with a massive production. The Three-Royal Opera by Bertolt Brecht. It will be directed by the Galician creator Marta Pazos, responsible for shows that have left their mark on Barcelona, such as the opera Alexina B and the García Lorca montage The public. Dani Espasa will assume the musical direction of the show, which will feature a live orchestra, choreography by Mabel Olea, and 12 performers on stage, including top names such as Nao Albet, Eduard Farelo, Míriam Moukhles, Júlia Truyol, and Roc Bernad. "It will be a celebration born from pleasure, joy, and hope," says Julio Manrique, director of the Lliure. Letícia Martín, director of the Grec Festival, adds that "a show of this scale was perfect for both openings: the festival itself, on June 29, and the Lliure's season."
"For more than 20 years, I've had this show in mind. Now I'm fulfilling a dream with two cathedrals of culture," says Pazos, who emphasizes how Brecht "seeks to find a hybrid space between the highest culture, opera, and the most popular art." underground"The cabaret." The creator approached the show with the idea of "a celebration and a tribute to the theater" without losing "the voracious critique of capitalism and Nazism." The translation, directly from the German by Marc Rosich, uses a "correct but very flat" Catalan, and the director resorts to the breaking of the fourth wall that made Brecht so famous," says the translator.
A mythical show
The Three-Royal Opera He already inaugurated the Grec Festival in 2002, with a production directed by Calixto Bieito. Dani Espasa participated in that show as a member of the Teatre Lliure Chamber Orchestra. For the artist, taking on the role of musical director for this production is an exciting opportunity. "The Lliure orchestra played a crucial role in Barcelona's musical life in the late 1990s; it was a true benchmark," says Espasa. When assembling a new ensemble, he has sought to "preserve the spirit of that orchestra, which featured unusual combinations of musicians playing up to six instruments." In keeping with the production, Espasa has incorporated "a banjo virtuoso, a Hawaiian guitarist, and a bandoneon player." For both the Grec and Lliure performances, the orchestra will be positioned in the pit.
The company has been rehearsing for four weeks and doesn't want to reveal too much about the show, despite being aware that expectations are high. Regarding the aesthetics—one of the most striking and surprising elements of Pazos's work—the director explains that it "will incorporate symbols of Barcelona," although the set design will allude "to a non-city" and the idea of globalized capitals that are almost mass-produced. "It's a poor opera, and that's why we ask ourselves what poverty means today. I've done a visual exploration of seriality and lack of originality to launch a critique of..." fast-fashion"What happens if today we only have one color or one garment?" he asks.
