Can you be honest with your partner?

BarcelonaIn 2015, playwright and director Lara Díez Quintanilla (Lleida, 1985) traveled across the United States with eight other people in a van. "We were all progressive, feminist, left-wing," recalls the director. But when a friend told a supposedly true story about a couple's sexual ordeal, all masks fell away. "Suddenly, everyone jumped in a very wild way. Possessive instincts surfaced, and we were never the same again," recalls Díez, who is also the author of plays such as Abandoned inheritance (2020), Euphoria (2021) and The spacelessness (2022). Over time, the anecdote began to appear in his life until, in 2022, he appropriated it to write a text for the Temporada Alta Playwriting Tournament. The piece was a finalist and won the Transatlantic Playwriting Tournament. Given this reception, Díez decided to expand it to turn it into a play that he titled Guilty pleasure and which premieres on May 12 at the Goya Theater.

Mar Ulldemolins and Francesc Ferrer put themselves in the shoes of the main couple, who are about to have a child. They are two open-minded people, who "have taken many courses in conflict management and sexual-affective communication," emphasizes Díez. Coinciding with their impending parenthood, they decide to explain all their sexual experiences, even those they have hidden for a long time. "Why do we get so angry if the other person in the couple has an experience of pleasure that is foreign to us? How do we live in a relationship when we feel that the other is our property? How do we manage the most primal instincts in a civilized way?" the playwright asks on stage.

Toxic masculinity, in question

The show, produced by Nakatomi, presents the conflict from both sides and without judging either position. "I wanted the viewer to go from one corner to the other, agreeing with both sides, without moral judgments, because there is nothing right or wrong," says Díez. The play "questions toxic masculinity and the values that carry over," says the director, who adds that "even if you are not this type of man, if your environment and your father are like that, there is a difficulty in being a deconstructed man."

Through humor, Díez also highlights how what we do to satisfy our partners affects us. "He makes great efforts to be the deconstructed man she desires. Many comedic situations arise here," explains Díez. The protagonist, for example, is called Jordi because it is the family name they have shared for sixteen generations. "When it comes time to decide on the baby's name, that family tradition comes to the surface and everything goes up in smoke," adds Díez. Guilty pleasure is part of the cycle Off from the Goya Theater and will be performed on Sundays at twelve noon and nine in the evening, and on Mondays at eight in the evening.