Although Barcelona broke its heat record this Wednesday and the Teatre Grec stage is outdoors, Argentine actor Joaquín Furriel (Lomas de Zamora, 1974) is not afraid of the city's high temperatures. "I premiered my first play when I was 13, on December 20th in Buenos Aires, which is like performing here in July. I'm always happy when I perform in the heat, it's a caress for my soul," the performer highlights. He is the protagonist of The True Story of Richard III, a show directed by Calixto Bieito that will be performed this Friday and Saturday as part of the Grec festival. The play arrives in Barcelona after being staged in Madrid and Bilbao and having a season and national tour in Argentina with a very enviable reception: for two and a half months, the show could be seen from Wednesday to Sunday at the Teatro San Martín, which has a capacity of 950 people. They sold out all tickets.

Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill conceived The Threepenny Opera in a specific context, Victorian London, and in a determined physical space, the underbelly of Soho, inhabited by traitors, murderers, prostitutes, and exploiters. The versions we have known among us — Mario Gas's, premiered at the Romea Theatre in 1984, and Calixto Bieito's, premiered precisely at the Grec Festival in 2002 — varied the context but maintained the physical space. Above all, they maintained the characteristics that define the characters (from stage presence to costume) and the brutality of the capitalist society they describe and satirize.

Perhaps because it's our anniversary, the Teatre Grec Gardens are buzzing with people and activity, even though it's just past seven in the evening. It's one of the summer's big events and everyone wants to enjoy it and talk about it. The heat doesn't make it easy (shadows are highly sought after, hats and fans, at full speed), but the collective enthusiasm overcomes everything. The ducks quack contentedly – and will do so even more during the night – from the pond that welcomes one of Barcelona's most emblematic spaces. "At least they're in the water," says a woman to the man accompanying her, who follows her carrying two glasses full to the brim.

They followed the concert hypnotized and without realizing that their body was yielding to the songs of Dipotry, Pau Riba's double album which was honored at the Teatre Grec this Tuesday, with a sold-out crowd. First, there were the eyes, which, in concert, opened like a flower. Then, the small, uncontrolled nods of approval from the head, which moved to the shoulders and spread to the arms. The couple expelled energy through their hands and began to float through the air. First, she stood up, and half a second later, he did. It was at the end of the concert. They had been dancing on stage for a while, but the audience struggled to get going.