From Lorca's passions to Richard III's fury: the most outstanding theatrical premieres

Juan Diego Botto, Marta Marco, Pep Cruz or Calixto Bieito are some of the proper names we find this week on the Barcelona billboard. Great theater successes return, such as Una noche sin Luna, but we will also be able to enjoy Argentine productions such as La verdadera historia de Ricardo III or documentary theater with the Catalan company La Conquesta del Pol Sud.

This week, Barcelona offers us a wide variety of cultural proposals that adapt to many audience profiles. Find yours!

1. Una noche sin Luna at Teatre Tívoli – July 1 to 26

Teatre Tívoli hosts one of the most applauded pieces of contemporary theater with the return of Una noche sin Luna, on the Barcelona billboard from July 1 to 26. Under the baton of director Sergio Peris-Mencheta and with the dramaturgy of Juan Diego Botto, the show approaches the figure of Federico García Lorca from a sensibility adapted to the 21st century. The work becomes a mirror of our own current reality, using Lorca's own voice, poems and texts in the first person to talk about the lesser known aspects of the Granada author.

This acclaimed production, which includes interviews, literary fragments and real conferences, manages to navigate irony, emotion and a sense of humor to recount vital episodes of Lorca such as his time at the Residencia de Estudiantes, his experience in La Barraca or the tension of his last years. Through this journey, the production brings to the table debates such as freedom of expression, the fight for sexual identity, the role of women and the importance of historical memory. It should be remembered that the successful union of Botto and Peris-Mencheta is backed by an impeccable track record, including two Max Awards for best show and best actor for this same work.

2. No miris at the CCCB – July 9 and 10

The Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB) will be the setting, on July 9 and 10, for No miris, a production by the platform Cultura i Conflicte and Teatre de l'Aurora (Igualada) directed by Joan Arqué Solà and with dramaturgical advice from Marc Angelet. This documentary theater project is presented as a thriller about the gray areas of the human condition and the family abysses that arise from traumatic events of the past. The story, based on real events, takes as its starting point the testimony of Verónica Estay Stange, daughter of those repressed by the Chilean dictatorship and niece of one of the regime's great repressors, to talk about guilt, silence, and inherited resentment in second generations.

The performers Pep Cruz, Marta Marco, and Erol Ileri are responsible for bringing to life a gallery of characters trapped in the uncomfortable dilemmas that arise when political ideals are placed above family love. The play invites reflection on the fragility of modern democracies and the ease with which we accept violations in the name of security. The show is accompanied by a six-chapter podcast titled La mala memòria. Álbum sonoro contra el olvido (The Bad Memory. Sound Album Against Oblivion), which analyzes the banalization of evil based on real first-person accounts.

3. The True Story of Richard III at Teatre Grec – July 10 and 11

The stage of the Teatre Grec will experience on July 10 and 11 one of the festival's most powerful international collaborations with the premiere of The True Story of Richard III. This production, originally directed by Calixto Bieito for the Teatro San Martín in Buenos Aires, arrives adapted to the festival by Argentine actor Joaquín Furriel, who not only directs this version but also embodies the Shakespearean monarch. The real discovery of Richard III's tomb under a Leicester car park in the 20th century serves as a trigger to unfold a universe of violence, betrayals, and desire for absolute power.

The dramaturgy is signed by Adrià Reixach based on the translation by Lautaro Vilo, and returns distorted and uncomfortable images of our own present. The show manages to combine tragicomic, beautiful, and completely monstrous elements thanks to the performance of Furriel, who speaks about the limits of madness and the fear aroused by Shakespeare's tyrant.

4. Nosaltres, mortals at Teatre Eòlia – From July 3 to 12

The Teatre Eòlia hosts Nosaltres, mortals from July 3 to 12, a documentary theater project written and directed by Sara Sors. It is a journey through time that connects the present with the 18th century to analyze the invisibilized history of the female penitentiary system in Spain. The production conveys the coldness, distance, and real isolation suffered by women deprived of liberty, relying on both real testimonies and fictional adaptations.

The play stems from a feminist critique of the penitentiary system. Through uncomfortable questions, the show reveals the personal and family impact of incarceration, while also denouncing how society continues to punish and stigmatize women once they have served their sentences. The director won one of the Premis Barcelona grants to bring this production to fruition and, with this proposal, she consolidates herself as one of the most poetic and committed voices in current theatrical creation.

5. Nascuts lliures at Teatre Nacional de Catalunya – From July 9 to 19

The Teatre Nacional de Catalunya (TNC) presents the new proposal from the company La Conquesta del Pol Sud, titled Nascuts lliures. Under the creation and direction of Carles Fernández Giua, this show delves into one of the most complex and transversal debates in our society: the challenges facing education in the era of artificial intelligence and in a world of constant instability. Using their characteristic style where fiction and documentary theater coexist, the piece places a group of teaching professionals on stage who recount, from their own experience, how individuals are transformed through culture.

On stage, the movement of the actors and the changes in space serve to illustrate the learning process. The play becomes a dynamic game where real experiences are visually mixed with fictional scenes. To give the production a symbolic layer, the proposal metaphorically alludes to the old Modelo prison in Barcelona, a former space of repression and violence that the city has managed to recover as a new facility dedicated to historical memory and pedagogical training.

This week, Barcelona is filled with theatrical proposals that invite reflection, emotion, and experiencing culture up close. The city's stages are ready; now all that's left is for you to choose your favorite story and let yourself be carried away by the magic of live arts. Enjoy the show!