Sixth edition of FASTT, which brings the performing arts to the micro-villages of Empordà in an edition with 13 shows

Fig treesAfter celebrating its fifth edition as a traveling festival through several Empordà municipalities, the Empordà Microvillages Performing Arts Festival (FASTT) has prepared a record-breaking edition with a lineup of 13 shows. This year, the festival is expanding once again and will take place between June 27 and July 27 in eleven municipalities with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants: Agullana, Espolla (a new FASTT municipality), Garrigàs, Ordis, Puente de Molins, Rabós, Sant Climent Sescebes, Siurana, and Vilamacolum.

This year, the goal remains the same: to bring culture to rural areas and provide the opportunity to discover small Empordà municipalities. To this end, 13 medium- and large-format proposals will be programmed that will combine text theater, musical theater, dance, circus, clown, and magic. The Tickets are now on sale starting this week.

Artistic programming

Before launching the professional program, FASTT will hold an opening party on June 27th, inviting all artists from this edition, as well as residents of the microvillages. The event will present the results of the Microvillages Creative Workshop on stage and will host presentations from the institutions collaborating in the project.

This edition's program includes 13 shows that will be distributed across the FASTT microvillages. The kick-off show will be Thursday's frying pan, written by Cristina Clemente, will take place on July 3rd in Vilaür. Co-produced by El Maldà, Sala Flyhard, Sala Versus Glòries, and the Grec Festival, this comedy invites viewers to reflect on family roles and the ability to reinvent themselves. Starring Lloll Bertran, Núria Cuyàs, and Jordi Andújar, the play is part of a theatrical trilogy created in Catalonia and Argentina.

The following day, July 4, Agullana will host the FASTT with Seahorse or the invisible fish, written by Pau Coya, directed by Rebeca del Fresno, and performed by Marc Torres. The play is a genre-bending, unconventional play that explores the prevailing norms. The play received two Critics' Awards in 2023—for Best Production according to Novaveu and Best Newcomer—and both the Jury and Audience Awards at the 35th Igualada Festival. It has also been nominated in two categories for the Butaca Awards (best small-format show).

The first week of the festival will close with The important thing is to participate, by the Teresa Gubiades company. The play tells the story of a group of people reciting texts by Santiago Rusiñol who are possessed by his words and must free themselves from them. An irreverent and playful performance that draws on the writer's opinion pieces to create a lively, musical, and highly contemporary stage play.

The second weekend of FASTT will begin on Friday the 11th in Pont de Molins, specifically in the very special setting of the Monastery of Our Lady of the Oak. There you will see Hamlet.02, the continuation of Hamlet.01 which could be seen at the FASTT in 2022. As on the previous occasion, this is a stand-up comedy, but this time focusing on the second act of Hamlet, which discusses politics, friendship, madness, and his ambiguous and morally dubious love affair with Ophelia. The play, with a contemporary perspective and full of dark humor, is created and directed by Sergi Belbel and performed by Enric Cambray. It was also part of the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya's 2024-2025 season program.

For the first time, the FASTT Neighborhood Committee has been involved in the development of the program and has selected one of the works that will be included in the next edition. This will be Around the World in 80 Girls, a theatrical, musical, and performance show that invites viewers to discover eighty fascinating women who have been rendered invisible throughout history. The work, by the company La Protagonista—formed by Georgina Llauradó and Cristina Martínez (performers) and Joan Codina (director)—is scheduled for July 12 in Espolla, the municipality that recently joined the FASTT family.

The theatre week will end on July 13 in Sant Climent Sescebes –specifically in l'Horta d'en Cusí, the emblematic space where the Passion is performed every year– with Bare, Joan Català's legendary work premiered in 2012 and has been presented at various festivals in Catalonia and around the world. Combining theater, dance, and circus, the performance is a collective ritual that begins with a tree trunk and the body of a man to speak, through a poetic lens, about physical effort, tradition, and craftsmanship.

Having passed the halfway point of FASTT, the festival will move to Vilanant on July 18 with Love to death, the fourth show by The Feliuettes, a company that has consolidated its own style, a cross between musical cabaret and feminist critique. The piece dissects emotional relationships with a great deal of humor and a touch of malice. They discuss romantic love, emotional dependence, sisterhood, friendship, and polyamory with a sharp and fun stage performance that transforms the disenchantment of love into a theatrical celebration of vindication and laughter.

And that week will end the following day, July 19, in Vilamacolum with The mechanics of misfortune, A performance programmed for the first time in collaboration with the Figueres Festival is MOU. This contemporary dance duo explores how falls, mistakes, and adverse moments can be the starting point for creating beauty and meaning. Crémentine Telesfort and Lisard Tranis, the creators and performers of the show, prepare a physical and evocative performance that invites us to view fragility as an art form.

On this occasion, and thanks to the collaboration between both festivals, spectators will be able to purchase a ticket package to see the festival on July 19th. The mechanics of misfortune at the FASTT and on July 5th three choreographies by Yoann Bourgeois Art Company (The Unreachable Suspension Point. Approach 11.Ellipse; The Unreachable Suspension Point. Approach 9. Dialogue and The Unreachable Suspension Point. Approach 17. Opening) in Figueres is MOVING. The price per ticket is 20 euros.

The final week of FASTT will combine circus, dance, and magic. It will begin in Siurana on Friday, July 25 with Infinite, by the Seon Company, a contemporary circus piece for all audiences that explores the boundaries (or lack thereof) between beginning and end, between meaning and absurdity. Through acrobatics, the Washington trapeze, clowning, and dance, two eccentric yet deeply human characters will attempt to understand the world.

The following day, July 26th, Ordis will be visited by a night dedicated to dance, in which two pieces will be programmed. On the one hand, The Sad-Mad Method, by the Carla Sisteré Company, an energetic, vital, and physical choreography that celebrates her learning, overcoming hatred, and self-love. On the other hand, La Venidera, a company formed by Irene Tena and Albert Hernández – former dancers of the National Ballet of Spain – will present NO, a danced manifesto that reflects on denial as a creative act and as a driving force of resistance and expression.

Finally, the festival will close with a double bill of clown and magic. It will take place in Garrigàs on July 27 and will begin with Inopia, by Gneis, a poetic magic show designed to disconnect from the world and reconnect with admiration. Inspired by the vaudeville classic, Gneiss Altés transports the audience to a space where the impossible becomes tangible. At the end it will be the turn of Drop By Txema Muñoz, a poetic circus and magic piece that explores the transformative power of small things. Through movement, acrobatics, object play, and live music, the show speaks to resilience, overwhelming emotions, and the beauty born from fragility.

Before the show, artist Gneis will lead a free magic workshop. After both performances, the space will open to everyone with a party open to the general public, marking the end of the sixth edition of FASTT.

New edition of the "Micropueblos a Escena" workshop

For years, Microvillages on stage This is the proposal promoted by FASTT to encourage citizen participation in the micro-villages where the festival takes place. With this initiative, the festival invites residents to create a stage costume from scratch, guided by a professional company.

For this edition, FASTT proposes learning circus techniques from Marcel Aguilar. The juggler and trainer from the La Bisbal de Empordà Circus School will accompany participants in discovering and exploring the limits of their own abilities. The workshop, aimed at those aged 14 and over, will involve learning circus techniques (tightrope walking, trapeze, diabolo, or Chinese sticks, etc.), always valuing and leveraging the abilities and skills of each member of the group. The project will conclude with a staging integrating everything learned and with a dramaturgical line that will explain who the participants are and what their story is.

Rehearsals, which have already begun and will take place throughout May and June, will culminate in a presentation at the FASTT opening party on June 27. The workshop's results will also be presented on two other occasions during the festival (July 5 and 11) and will be part of the official program of the Micropueblos Performing Arts Festival.