T de Teatre's new family: a place where someone always ends up crying

BarcelonaIt was after seeing The madman and the shirt, the flagship work of Nelson Valente (Buenos Aires, 1971), that T de Teatre decided to sign the Argentine playwright and director for their next show. "We saw that play and went crazy. We all shared the feeling that he was a director who could take us out of our comfort zones, put us in a cocktail shaker, and shake us up," explains actress Mamen Duch. "That text has brilliant dialogue that captivated us. Nelson's plays are ensemble pieces, but they touch on relatable themes; people can identify with them, and they have a humor that can be uncomfortable," adds Àgata Roca. In recent years, Valente's appearances on the Catalan stage have become increasingly frequent. Last season he premiered Amnesia at the Teatre Nacional and, in 2020, also worked with a Catalan company in The dogs...among other productions. That's why it made perfect sense that Valente's response to T de Teatre's request was affirmative.

"I wrote a text specifically for them. We had the characters defined before writing, and we also did improvisation work," the director and playwright points out. From this collaboration has emerged I will not cry today.A family comedy starring three sisters who don't quite understand each other and carry a considerable burden of psychological and emotional problems. The show premieres on December 5th at the Municipal Theatre of Girona, as part of the Temporada Alta festival, and will then move to the Goya Theatre in Barcelona starting December 19th. "It's been a while since we've done a straight comedy. Although it has tragic touches, it's a show about the miseries of life but with moving moments. People will laugh a lot," Roca emphasizes. This isn't the first time the actresses have worked with an Argentinian director. In 2023 they premiered The Ghost Woman, directed by Mariano Tenconi Blanco, and in 2007 they performed How can I love you so much?with Javier Daulte. They have previously collaborated with directors such as Alfredo Sanzol, Julio Manrique and Sergi Belbel.

Three sisters and a lot of dissatisfaction

The catalyst for the play they are currently preparing is the return of Luz (Carme Pla) after a month-long stay in a psychiatric clinic. This event leads to a reunion with her two sisters, Lola (Mamen Duch) and Bibiana (Àgata Roca). Each carries within her a series of problems and deceptions that, when they begin to surface, cause everything to explode. "Bibiana is the youngest sister; she's always the one putting out fires, but at the same time, she's very provocative. She's married to Miquel (Jordi Rico), a womanizer who manipulates everyone, and she also has a serious drinking problem," Roca summarizes. Luz, according to Pla, is "the most sensible of them all," although she's in treatment after a suicide attempt. And Lola, the eldest sister, "has a very controlling partner, Gerard (Albert Ribalta), an uncompromising man who makes her live a certain way, and she puts up with it," Duch adds.

Although the family meal is meant to celebrate Luz's arrival, it's also destined to be tumultuous. "That's the meaning of the title: whenever they get together, someone ends up crying," says Roca. The one who will light the fuse is the only character outside the family, Oltra (Marta Pérez), a very peculiar friend of Luz. "She's a woman who has spent a lot of time in an institution, a character no one has ever really looked at and who's always trying to get attention. She wants to help Luz at all costs, but she lives more out of touch with reality than in it. She'll blow up the family, which is already in a very tense situation because all their problems have festered," Pérez points out. The action unfolds on a complex, rotating set by Alejandro Andújar that recreates Lola's high-end house, where she's obsessed with every corner being spotless. Valente approaches this family pressure cooker with humor. "It's a 90-minute show: 80 minutes of laughter and 10 minutes of reflecting on what we've been laughing about," the director summarizes. Alongside him, the company has set itself the challenge of incorporating a more Argentinian style of acting, especially regarding dialogue. "We've been working on polyphony on stage for years. We want to do what Argentinians do so well: everyone speaks at once and everyone is understood," Pérez emphasizes. According to Valente, this way of acting "is very difficult in Catalonia because of the strong tradition of respect for the text," but he's convinced they'll succeed.