In two famous literary essays, Bruno Bettelheim, on the one hand, and Gianni Rodari, on the other, explored the psychoanalytic keys to children's rondallistics. Rusalka, Christoph Loy seems to have had this in mind, because the show moves away from the fantasy imagery inherent in The Little Mermaid Andersen's work to delve into a reading in which the subconscious and many of its revealed taboos contribute to understanding the hidden background of Antonin Dvořák's opera. The production, co-produced by Dresden, Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona, ​​does not leave anyone indifferent, and is one of those that makes you think, apart from its plastic beauty thanks to the set design by Johannes Leiacker and the lighting by Bernd Purkrabek. To all this we must add some winks, such as the unresponsive feet of the dancer, which in a certain way evoke the protagonist of Chaplin's Limelight, while the roles of Hajny and Kuchtik also fall somewhere between Chaplin and Beckett. Overall, the show perfectly sculpted the characters and is a marvel of action and stage movement, thanks to Klevis Elmazaj's choreography.

"It's a particularly moving story, with a lot of emotion and tragedy," says Piotr Beczala, the Polish tenor who leads the opera's cast. Rusalka which will be performed at the Liceu from June 22 to July 7, with stage direction by Christof Loy. Rusalka is a water nymph who falls in love with a human prince and, in order to live out that love, wishes to transform into a woman. She will achieve this by convincing her father and making a deal with Jezibaba, the witch who will transform her in exchange for some cruel consequences: losing her speech and being unable to walk. Rusalka accepts and manages to make the prince fall in love for a while, but she will end up abandoning him for a foreign princess. Rusalka will not be able to undo the transformation and this new reality will force her to rediscover her place in the world, still feeling the pain of not having been reciprocated.