The ferryman by Jez Butterworth, the author of JerusalemIt is a truly exceptional work and theatrical production for several reasons, including its length (three and a quarter hours, plus two intermissions), the number of performers (nineteen), the awards it has won (including the Laurence Olivier), and the record-breaking ticket sales in the history of London's Royal Court Theatre. In Barcelona, ​​its appeal lies in the excellent casting of the Lliure production, the outstanding performances of an intergenerational cast, a staging that captures the best of Julio Manrique, and the prominence of an absent character. But above all, it stems from the resonance it evokes in any community, like ours.

The Teatre Lliure will celebrate its fiftieth anniversary in 2026, and it will do so with a season "that seeks to look outward, toward the world's crises and conflicts and the multitude of dilemmas facing contemporary society," says the theater's director, Julio Manrique. The Lliure's new program will consist of 28 productions, of which eight are its own, 10 are co-productions, and 10 are guest productions. "We feel that the season we are now closing has been a beginning, a seed of a new chapter in the history of the Lliure. With the next one, we want to strengthen, expand, and develop the identity of this new era," emphasizes Manrique. With a budget of €10.3 million for 2025, the public theater has concluded the current season with 88% occupancy and 119,000 spectators, 30,000 more than the previous season.