'Fantastic Ramon': a risky bet

Given Claudia Cedó's professional specialty as a psychologist and playwright working with people with disabilities, we might think that the title of her new work refers to Ramon's overcoming process, but that's not the case. In fact, Ramon is the simultaneously omnipresent and absent protagonist of a fantastic tale. Omnipresent because, from birth until the end of the long performance, he is the trigger for everything that happens to the inhabitants of Santa Aurora de la Piedad. And absent because his presence on stage, somewhere between tender and disturbing, is that of a soulless object. Ramon is a rag doll, the son of Josep (Francesc Ferrer) and Clara (Anna Moliner), who comes into the world in a small town with deep-rooted traditions.

In Santa Aurora de la Piedad, the local radio announcer speaks in sign language, the baker forgets to put the bread in the oven every day, and the villagers don't quite know how to accept their new neighbor, so different from everyone else. This confrontation serves Cedó to show the problems that parents of children with functional diversity surely face in our society. Cedó stands out in terms of the expectant normality with which the inhabitants - especially the doctor (Xicu Masó) and the teacher (Vanessa Segura) - perceive the existence and growth of the small, silent and inert Ramon (ruling out a more organic manipulation), but not so when it wants to develop the fantastical question that begins. The author raises an intrigue that is not well resolved and leads to an unclear ending, despite the grandeur of the last scene.

Following in the footsteps of the magnificent Sugar motherProfessional actors with no limitations other than their own shortcomings (we are all limited) and disabled professionals share the stage, although the former control most of the abundant script, while the latter are given a few humorous actions and entrances (Marc Buxaderas is fantastic as a priest). I'd say the show lacks rhythm and that the Fabià Puigserver Hall is too big for it. This doesn't diminish the social importance of the Lliure's first project in a project that aims to imbue "the performing arts with the knowledge and perspective of artists with functional diversity until the inclusion of these people in the creation, production, and exhibition of shows is no longer news." So be it.