In the first quarter of the year, Marc Artigau (Barcelona, 1984) donned the playwright's hat and premiered the comedy about Alzheimer's Una festa a Roma, directed by Clara Segura at the Teatre Lliure. In the second quarter, for Sant Jordi, the playwright puts on the narrator's hat and presents the collection of short stories Aquest serà el nostre pou (Empúries), which has just won the Mercè Rodoreda prize at the Catalan Letters Night.

In 2025, 21% of the State's citizens were 65 years of age or older. And 5.5% of those over 65 suffer or will suffer from Alzheimer's. Marc Artigau, one of the most awarded and performed Catalan playwrights, has aptly written works about adolescence (The others); on improvised happiness (Good intentions); about grandparents and habaneras (There's no need to go to Havana); about robots (Sunrise or the Garden of Earthly Delights), and several love stories (You will arrive and it will be night and The deserted islandAnd he always does so with a touch of comedy, even when discussing serious matters. This is the case withA party in Rome, which focuses on a theme that theater has often explored, in keeping with the social importance of Alzheimer's disease (The father, by Florian Zeller; Full moon, by Aki Shimazaki; Deserts of memory, by Marcela Tierra; Before the German arrives(by Marta Barceló). A painful subject that could easily lead to drama, but which Artigau turns into an entertaining sentimental comedy that Clara Segura directs with confidence and rhythm, and which the audience applauds enthusiastically.

It's not a show about old age, but about the fourth. All the performers in the company make that clear.A party in RomeThe latest play written by Marc Artigau, which premieres on February 12 at the Teatre Lliure in Gràcia. "It's a vindication of this stage of life, from age 75 and up, to show that, despite the decline, they are not children but adults, and that they shouldn't be treated as children," emphasizes one of the actors in the play, Lluís Marco. A party in Rome It will run until March 22nd and is directed by Clara Segura, who is taking on this role for the third time (the first was in 2020 with Coverage and the second was in 2022 with The braidThe text is also published by Comanegra, within the collection Guard LightThe protagonists of the play are Romina (Marta Angelat) and Juli (Lluís Marco)—their names a clear homage to Romeo and Juliet—and the show tells part of their love story, which unfolds in a retirement home. Artigau uses Romina's diagnosed cognitive decline as a starting point to reflect on desire and affection when memory fades. The illness directly affects the protagonist's relationship with her son, Guillem (Oriol Vila), who suddenly "will no longer be cared for because he will have to be the one caring for others," explains the actor. The bond between them will also become a love story, because Guillem will have to learn to love his mother as she ceases to be herself. "He wants to understand her, he gets angry, he apologizes. The show also presents a very interesting generational contrast and is a subtle critique of this generation that is now in its forties and is somewhat fragile," notes Clara Segura. In this sense, Artigau wanted to show with this clash "how at a certain point in life you have to start caring, and that means letting go of the 'I' to move towards the 'we'" and that "problems and traumas are no longer so important." For inspiration, the playwright drew on lived experiences, although the production also incorporates a process of research.