The Teatre Lliure invites you to enter inside a scenography

BarcelonaFifty years ago, the doors of the Teatre Lliure were opened by those "crazy snipers who confuse theatre with a personal adventure," as defined by Fabià Puigserver, the soul of the project. The Palau Robert is hosting a unique commemorative exhibition until January 17th. Instead of a canonical retrospective made of objects, photographs, and costumes, they have invited the spectator to "look at the stage from a different place," says director Julio Manrique, defending the house motto, A free theatre. It is an invitation to enter the bowels of the stage through five theatrical installations created by five regular set designers of the Lliure who are from different generations.

"We didn't think we would be here today," admits Frederic Amat, one of the set designers linked to the beginnings of the Lliure. He wanted to remember the "wonderful instant" in which he collaborated with Puigserver on the set design of El público by Lorca, which for the first time reached the stages at the hands of Lluís Pasqual in 1986. In the room, he has installed some automatons on a floor of ash, to represent that "theatre lasts for one night and, at the same time, for a whole lifetime," he says.

Montse Amenós has created a very powerful space that exploits nostalgia. Since the Lliure in Gràcia often had the audience on three sides, the floor was always a central element of the set design, more so than the walls. That is why she has raised the floors of some iconic plays of the Teatre Lliure as if they were huge paintings in a storage room. There are the carpets from Titus Andronicus, the grass from Leonce and Lena, the painted flower curtain from Sunset in the Garden and even the black brick wall of the Lliure.

Between each installation, Tània Balló has created interludes that provide the documentary memory of the theatre. There are, for example, the wonderful photographs by Ros Ribas that remind us of the artists who have passed through and the directors who have worked there. There are also posters from various plays, which have always kept the logo by Cesc Espluga. Another interlude explains the opening of the first venue and the premiere at Montjuïc in 2001. And there is also footage of the first day of the premiere, December 2, 1976, withCamí de nit, 1854 directed by Lluís Pasqual. Chronicles of the time say that the applause was unanimous even before the show began.

Max Glaenzel's is the most intriguing set design. It plays with the paradox that within the darkness of the hall, the theatre opens our eyes and dialogues with reality. The visitor enters a dark room and observes the passage of time on the wall, thanks to a play of lights, and when the performance ends, the curtains open to reveal privileged views of the Plaça del Cinc d'Oros.

The fourth room, by Lluc Castells, is a model and at the same time a still life. It is packed with real objects that come from the desks of all the departments of the Lliure: cables, computers, post-its, coffees, spotlights, papers, and tapes, in "a tribute to the workers, the trades, and the people of the theatre who are invisible," says the set designer.

And finally, the exhibition closes with a bright and crowded room, full of mannequins with memorable costumes from the Lliure with which Sílvia Delagneau –a regular designer for La Veronal– wants to "reclaim the figure of the costume designer." The oldest costume is the one worn by Anna Lizaran in Operació Ubú directed by Albert Boadella, with designs by Fabià Puigserver in 1980-81. The newest ones are the retro costumes of the Irish children from El barquer, premiered this 2026 with costumes by Maria Armengol. There is the orangutan from El Mestre i Margarita and there is a tunic from L'adéu de Lucrècia Borja premiered by Carles Santos in 2001 with designs by Mariaelena Roqué. A perfect final room to exercise nostalgia and memory: let's see who can find Quimet Pla's tailcoat for Travy and the bullfighter suit of Cesc Gelabert in Belmonte.