Maybe you're crazy, but you're not alone: open the Jàssera bookstore

BarcelonaI'm meeting with theater director Ferran Utzet to see his latest play. It has a classic feel—I see Sagarra, Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams—also something of Peter Brook and, of course, a generous selection of Catalan plays. Utzet has just opened Jàssera, a bookstore specializing in theater, located in the heart of Barcelona, ​​at 8 Sitges Street, not far from where the historic Millà bookstore and publishing house used to be, also dedicated exclusively to theater, which closed in 2015 after more than a century.

When I arrive, I find Joan Yago, the playwright from La Calórica, who has brought him some copies of The deer rut (Comanegra), the play that's being restaged in February at the Poliorama. On a shelf, I see the complete works of Joan Yago (Arola), and he takes the opportunity to give us a scoop: one of the plays published in this volume will premiere next season. This is what Ferran Utzet wants to happen in this small, welcoming space: for it to be "a meeting place for the theater community, something that gives us self-esteem and is more inclusive than a premiere, where there's a power struggle."

"I remember going to Millà as a student and running into famous actors or Jaume Melendres buying books—it was so exciting!" Utzet explains. So the bookstore responds to a romantic notion of books and theater, but also to an opportunity: "I can do it because this place belongs to my family," he confesses. Discos Revolver closed nearby, suffocated by rising rents, the same fate that befell Yorick, the Madrid theater bookstore, which is hanging by a thread. "When Ferran explained to me that he was going to open a bookstore, I thought, 'You're crazy... but it's a necessity.' In Barcelona, ​​there are sheet music shops, technical manual stores, political science bookstores... How can there not be a theater?" Yago asks. Soon there will be one. a new Windows library specializing in the Palestinian conflict.

It's only fair to say that there are general bookstores that have a good selection of plays, asserting that theater is also literature. Publishers that support theater (Arola, Comanegra, Bromera, etc.) deserve all the window displays. "Everyone has celebrated this madness, the theater community and also the shopkeepers of the Raval, because there's a feeling of reclaiming the city, even if it's such a humble place. There's more resistance than it seems," argues Utzet, who receives unexpected visitors every afternoon (from 4 to 8 pm): one day Oriol Broggi comes in and Mr. The Florists' RamblaThe last Sagarra he needs at home.

The good times for theater

Jàssera is also a product of the current boom in Catalan theater, especially Catalan dramaturgy, which boasts a wealth of playwrights, large audiences, high quality, and strong international demand. "These days, it's much more stimulating and easier to premiere a Catalan playwright's work in theater, and they have to go to great lengths to justify premiering any old classic or a German playwright if it's not exceptional; it used to be the other way around, and that's a collective success," Utzet reflects. Let's look at the numbers: the record of 3 million viewers plays from 2025 (half of them in Catalan) or the Reading the Theatre book club, which last year brought together 12,000 theatre readers in 134 public libraries. "We authors have the feeling that this good moment for Catalan dramaturgy hasn't yet translated into the world of books. In France it's easier to publish than to premiere a play, and here it's the other way around: we're lucky enough to have our plays premiered, but we'd like to be published and read," explains Yago. "It's not about competing against the..." bestsellersWe're not in this war, but there are many people who are interested in theater, and this interests us a lot. Besides, it's a very accessible, easy, short genre, for very broad audiences."

The same day that sadly the Sabadell Silver Bookstore Jàssera will close its doors on February 14th, but will celebrate its reopening with actors performing readings every hour on the hour. Afterwards, Utzet will focus on her theater projects—she'll be leaving the shop in good hands: she's found an actress, theater producer, and bookseller—because this year she has three major premieres, the first of which... Plan for RojoA dialogue between Josep Pla and Montserrat Roig, for which he has written his first play, premieres at La Fàbrica in March. Finally, a capital city with a rich theater and literary tradition once again boasts its unique and growing theater bookstore.