The Sala Beckett promotes text-based theatre in Catalan.

BarcelonaNext season, the Sala Beckett champions playwriting as an antidote to the malaise of the present. "We live in times of anxiety and a cult of immediacy, drowned by the avalanche of global information, distressed by the apocalyptic feeling. We want to have it all, and ultimately, nothing makes sense," says Sala Beckett director Toni Casares. In this context, the new program aims to "contribute to making text-based theater in Catalan a living language, sufficiently complex and constantly evolving," a "commitment" of the theater that, according to Casares, this year is expressed "with more force and decisiveness than ever."

The season will kick off with a performance by the poet Perejaume entitled Perhaps as an audience, a stage device that will stretch the limits of the concept of spectatorship. "It will make us think about some elements of our present that, precisely, are not meant to be observed," Casares explains. The fall will continue with two literary adaptations for the stage: the company La Segona Millor is preparing My brother, Bernard from the Letters by Bernard-Marie Koltès, while Mos Maiorum and Joan Yago will cover We, the nameless ones by Joan Garcia Oliver. The Valencian playwright and director Núria Vizcarro will present Independent Living Office, a production about people with disabilities and their journey to achieve independent living that, according to Casares, "talks about illnesses, looking for their bright, even comical, side."

Throughout the season, several birthday shows will be performed at the venue. To commemorate Hongaresa Teatre's 30th anniversary, the company will perform The path of salt, a tragicomedy with an unexpected character that will lead the protagonists - played by Sergi Torrecilla, Lara Salvador and Paco Zarzoso - to absolute uncertainty will also celebrate the 50th anniversary of Franco's death with Acute renal failure, a creation by Eduard Olesti with texts by Mercè Rodoreda, Joan Sales, and Blai Bonet.

Cancel culture and patriarchy

One of Beckett's projects for the next academic year is the company La Moukhles & Sentís, which is holding a residency at the venue. The group of Míriam Moukhles and Carles Sentís is preparing Alphabet, a show centered around the philosopher Gilles Deleuze. "It had a huge impact on us." Nodio. Of dogs and damned, which they did at the Maldà, and we were also seduced by their new project, a show that has to do with the obsession with legacy," says Casares.

Among the Catalan dramaturgy of the Poblenou space, Cutting off a foot with a chainsaw by Bárbara Mestanza, who after Dirty will return to the stage with a thriller about cancel culture. Another return to the theater is that of director Marilia Samper. She will do so with How I learned to drive, a text by American author Paula Vogel about a woman's emotional journey in relation to patriarchy. "Vogel is an established foreign author who is very little known in our country. Beckett will be her gateway to Catalonia," Casares emphasizes. The play will feature Mireia Aixalà, Ivan Benet, Alba Gallén, and Kathy Sey.

The intimate life of a couple

Winter at the Beckett will be marked by two diametrically opposed tandem shows. On the one hand, Las Lloronas will explore the symbiosis of two characters with One cut, two thirds. On the other hand, the actor Pau Vinyals and the set designer Judit Colomer will present their first joint production, Tender, a play that opens its doors to the intimacy of a couple with a child. In the final stretch of the season, Alícia Gorina will premiere I have a forest in my brain by Guadalupe Sáez, which delves into the loss and panic of a mother and her son. "Her text disconcerted us, it's very heartbreaking," says the director of Beckett.

Actor Roc Bernardí will lead the film. Hold me until I fall asleep, one of the first texts by the set designer Cesc Colomina. It is a story of a trapped boy that will be directed by Guillem Sánchez Garcia. The season will culminate with Denmark by Lluïsa Cunillé and directed by Albert Arribas. It is a tour de force about a mother and son played by Pere Arquillué and Imma Colomé. "Cunillé is a key author for understanding contemporary Catalan theatre, and Albert Arribas has found new ways of entering her world to show us her most unusual and different side," Casares emphasizes.

Beyond the new shows, Beckett will also take advantage of the year to revive previous season's hits. He will return From fandom to trolling by Berta Prieto, about a protagonist who is increasingly stupid; Of friendship of Las Huecas, and House Heats by Pere Riera, which premiered at the Beckett and was later performed in Slovenia.