The ‘Placing of Memory’ in contemporary Catalan theatre

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Notes

1. The proceedings were published as Carles Batlle i Jordà (ed.), I Simposi Internacional sobre teatre català contemporani: de la transició a l'actualitat (Barcelona: Institut del Teatre/Diputació de Barcelona, 2005).

2. See Joan Francesc Mira, The Domain of the Written Language (Birmingham: The Anglo-Catalan Society, 2005).

3. ‘Sobre l'aparició i la desaparició: el teatre i Barcelona’, (Pausa.), 20 (2005), 55–66; ‘Catalunya Invisible: Contemporary Theatre in Barcelona’, Special Cluster: ‘Barcelona’, ed. Brad Epps, Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies, 6 (2002), 269–287.

4. See, for instance, the contributions of Jordi Coca, Jordi Mesalles and Ricard Salvat to the debate at the aforementioned conference, as well as Coca's contribution to the present volume, pp. 446–452.

5. This is the name given to the cluster of theatre buildings around the Plaça Margarita Xirgu on Montjuïc, including the Institut del Teatre, the Mercat de les Flors and the new Teatre Lliure spaces in the old Palau de l'Agricultura, the Sala Puigserver and the Espai Lliure. The term ‘City of Theatre’ reflects the philosophy behind City council redevelopment of Barcelona in the 1990s, in the creation of a diversity of city spaces to reflect the diversity of functions and understandings of Barcelona.

6. Pierre Nora, Les lieux de mémoire, 3 vols (Paris: Gallimard, 1984–92).

7. Antoni Ramon Graells provides a fuller description of the historical changes in Barcelona's theatre map in ‘El lloc del teatre: Barcelona fi de segle’, in Batlle Jordà (ed.), I Simposi…, pp. 559–573.

8. Various authors, Dossier: L'acció té lloc a Barcelona, special cluster in (Pausa.), 20 (January 2005), 33–112.

9. Apart from the three plays to be discussed here, these include Pau Miró, Plou a Barcelona (It's Raining in Barcelona), Enric Cassasses, Do'm (Gimme), Albert Mestres, Vides de tants (Everyday Lives) for the Sala Beckett, Manel Veiga, 16.000 ptes (16,000 pesetas) at the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya, Esquena de Ganivet (Back of the Knife) by Pep Tosar, as part of the Projecte Alcover, a joint Catalan–British version of Homage to Catalonia, performed at the Romea in 2004, as well as spectacles with memory-structures, such as the Comediants' L'arbre de la memòria (The Memory Tree) at the International Forum of Cultures (2004), Albert Boadella's La torna de La torna (The Return of La torna), and Carles Santos's La meua filla sóc jo (I am my own daughter), both in 2005.

10. Jeanette Malkin, Memory-Theater and Postmodern Drama (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1999), p. 8.

11. Joan Abellan, Els Joglars. Espais (Barcelona: Institut del Teatre, 2002).

12. Manel Veiga, 16.000 pessetes/ Rodolf Sirera, Raccord, T-6, vol. 5 (Barcelona: Proa, 2005).

16. Lluïsa Cunillé, Barcelona, mapa d'ombres, Pau Miró, Plou a Barcelona, En Cartell Sèrie ‘A Barcelona’ (Barcelona: L'Obrador de la Sala Beckett, 2004), p. 17.

13. Directed by Lurdes Barba and Judit Lucchetti. Set design: Max Glaenzel and Estel Cristià. Lighting: Maria Domènech. Sound: Jordi Collet. Cast: Mon Plans, Lina Lambert, Jordi Collet, Albert Pèrez and Daniela Corbo.

14. Cunillé received the Premi Ciutat de Barcelona for the play in 2004 as well as the Premi de Butaca, by popular vote. It appears in English translation in a forthcoming volume on Catalan theatre, edited by Marion Peter Holt and Sharon Feldman and published by Martin E. Segal Theatre Center/Theatre Communications Group.

15. The geography of the play is also explored by Sharon Feldman in ‘Els paisatges del teatre català contemporani: de Benet i Jornet a Cunillé’, and Irene Caixàs i Vicens, ‘Comunicació: una guia per conèixer els costats foscos de la ciutat’, in Batlle i Jordà (ed.), I Simposi…, pp. 55–69 and pp. 665–675, respectively.

17. Ibid., p. 12.

18. Ibid., p. 13.

19. Ibid., p. 22.

20. Ibid., p. 37.

22. Ibid., p. 61.

21. Ibid., p. 49.

23. Ibid., pp. 65–66.

24. Ibid., p. 12.

25. Directed by Sergi Belbel. Set design by Estel Cristià and Max Glaenzel. Lighting: Albert Faura. Costume design: Javier Artiñano. Music: Albert Guinovart. Sound: José A. Gutiérrez. Cast: Anna Lizaran, Jordi Banacalocha, Francesc Lucchetti, Ivan Labanda, Sara Rosa, Patricia Arredondo, Marcel Montanyès, Pau Poch, Andrés Herrera and Jordi Martínez. Translated by Paul Rankin as Blow-Ins, it will soon be made available on-line by Caos Editorial at http://www.caoseditorial.com

26. Marion Peter Holt offers a reading of the play in these terms in ‘Three New Productions at Barcelona's TNC and a Theme in Common’, Western European Stages, 17:1 (2005), 15–18. Further readings of the play can be found in Feldman, ‘Sobre l'aparició…’, Maria M. Delgado, ‘Forum 2004 Barcelona: A Summer of Stagings in Spain's Theatrical Capital’, Western European Stages 16:3 (2004), 71–85, and David George, ‘Forasters de Sergi Belbel: contingut i estructura’, in Batlle i Jordà (ed.), I Simposi…, pp. 219–234.

27. Feldman, ‘Sobre l'aparició…’, p. 64.

28. Sergi Belbel, Forasters (Barcelona: Proa/Teatre Nacional de Catalunya, 2004), p. 148.

29. Ibid., p. 86.

31. Ibid., pp. 125–6.

30. Ibid., p. 89.

32. Directed by Carme Portaceli. Lighting: Joaquín Guirado. Set design: Anna Alcubierre. Stylist: Marta Carrasco. Cast: Artur Trias, Francesca Piñón, Oscar Intente and Mar Ulldecona.

33. Ibid., p. 110.

34. Ibid., p. 96.

35. Ibid., p. 125.

36. La Gavina, translated by Salvador Oliva and directed by Josep Maria Flotats, was performed in the main auditorium in 1997. It brought together three monuments of the Catalan stage: in Flotats, Núria Espert and Josep Maria Pou.

37. Sirera, Raccord, p. 128.