This year, the Teatre Lliure de Montjuïc presents within its program the play Xirgu, a show inspired by one of the most outstanding personalities of Catalan theater. Actress, Lorca's muse, and with an overflowing personality, Margarita Xirgu (or "La Xirgu") managed to mark a before and after in the history of theater.
Born in 1888, Xirgu's life can be divided into three very well-defined stages: her beginnings in Catalan theater (1906-1912), her alliance with avant-garde movements (1912-1936), and her Latin American exile (1937-1969) which turned out to be one of her most brilliant and academic moments.
The beginnings of "la Xirgu": from amateur actress to her debut at the Romea
Born in Molins de Rei in 1888, Margarita came from a humble family, with her father a locksmith and her mother a peasant. They moved to Ciutat Vella in Barcelona, a district that, at that time, had a marked working-class and associative character. And it was here that Xirgu had her first contact with stage expression through the Cors de Clavé.
The Cors de Clavé were a musical, cultural, and social movement of working-class origin born in Catalonia in the mid-19th century. They were promoted by the composer, poet, and republican politician Josep Anselm Clavé with the aim of improving the living conditions of workers through choral singing and education.
These choirs were the breeding ground for popular Catalan associativism and laid the foundations for theater to become popular among neighborhoods. Years later, young working-class women without resources like Margarita Xirgu were able to discover their artistic vocation and take their first steps on stage thanks to the Cors de Clavé.
Xirgu began to act sporadically, in her free time, as just another amateur. But when her father was fired from his job for being part of a strike, the young actress made her vocation a means of economic support for her entire family. She was 12 years old and the young woman alternated her first roles on stage with her work in a haberdashery workshop.
October 4, 1906 was the day Margarita ceased to be anonymous to shine on stage. She was 18 years old and was the substitute for an established actress who, at the last minute, was unavailable. Xirgu went on stage to embody the character of Teresa Raquin, created by Émile Zola. Unlike the interpretive style of the era (which was based on exaggerations and very high tones), Margarita offered a tragic, sober, and contained interpretation, which shocked critics.
The press reaction was immediate. The next day, headlines and articles all pointed in the same direction: a prodigious actress had been born. Only 2 months after that performance, Xirgu debuted at the Teatre Romea with Àngel Guimerà's Mar i Cel.
Federico García Lorca's muse
In 1912, Margarita Xirgu made the leap to the Spanish language at the request of Faustino Da Rosa. After a year of preparation, in 1913 she arrived in America and in 1914 she moved to Madrid. During this Spanish period, Xirgu starred in great theatrical works such as Divinas palabras by Valle-Inclán, or pieces by international authors such as Bernard Shaw or Gabriele D'Annunzio.
But her life changed on March 13, 1915 during a performance in Granada. Margarita, only 27 years old, was embodying Elektra, the character by Euripides (in Hugo von Hofmannsthal's version). In the audience was a 17-year-old boy who was absolutely mesmerized by the Catalan actress's performance: it was Federico García Lorca.
When the Andalusian poet began to write his plays, he relied on the energy of that actress who, in his adolescence, left him with his heart in his throat. And that's how one of the most popular artistic relationships in Spanish theater began: the duo of Lorca and Xirgu.
The two creators worked together on the representation of some of the most resounding successes of the era: Mariana Pineda in 1927, which premiered in Barcelona with sets by a young Salvador Dalí; she also worked on La zapatera prodigiosa in 1930, premiered in Madrid under the direction of Cipriano Rivas Cheri; Yerma in 1934, a work Lorca wrote expressly for Xirgu and her interpretive talents; and Doña Rosita la soltera o el lenguaje de las flores in 1935, Lorca's last work premiered during the author's lifetime, which premiered in our city.
Due to the success achieved with this creative association, Xirgu proposed a tour of Mexico to Lorca. But the Civil War arrived in 1936. A war that tragically ended the life of the Granada poet.
The exile of Margarita Xirgu
The Civil War also caused Xirgu to go into exile in Latin America. She began by traveling to Chile, then was in Argentina, Cuba, Mexico, and Colombia. But it was Paraguay that made Margarita become a great actress in Latin America.
During this period, in addition to her career as an actress, she also carried out a prolific work as a teacher. She founded drama schools in different countries, organized seminars, and gave lectures. This educational work led to the professionalization of acting training in Latin America, changing it forever.
In Buenos Aires in 1945, she performed the posthumous world premiere of The House of Bernarda Alba, a play that Lorca wrote for her and that took nine years to be performed on stage.
While in Latin America she received state honors and recognition from personalities such as Rafael Alberti or Alejandro Casona, in Spain her figure remained erased due to the Franco dictatorship.
Seriously ill, Margarita Xirgu underwent emergency surgery in Montevideo on April 24, 1969, and died the next day, April 25. In Spain, her death went almost unnoticed by official media and, in fact, her remains would not return to her native Molins de Rei until 1988.
The legacy of Xirgu: a revolutionary artist
In addition to her undeniable artistic talent, Xirgu was a revolutionary. The artist introduced some innovations in the field of theater that completely broke with the nineteenth-century tradition.
One of the great changes she promoted was to eliminate the figure of the prompter. Xirgu defended the need to know the text by heart before presenting it to the public. This change led to the professionalization of the cast and stage safety began to be vital for a good theatrical performance.
But she also carried out a great scenic "clean-up": she eliminated cardboard backdrops and overly realistic furniture to opt for a more minimalist and conceptual set design. She also carried out this purification in her makeup, opting for a clearer face that would allow the interpretive expressiveness to be seen better.
The Lliure's tribute in its 50th season: 'Xirgu'
This year, the Teatre Lliure celebrates 50 years and, for this reason, has prepared a season full of great premieres. One of the most anticipated is, without a doubt, Xirgu. From November 19 to December 13, 2026, the Lliure de Montjuïc will host this production written by Cristina Clemente and directed by Israel Solà.
The proposal will not focus solely on reviewing the artist's biography: it is a work that, through her figure, aims to make us reflect on memory and on the theatrical profession. The creators have started from a basic premise: is there any relationship that unites today's young actresses with Margarita Xir
And it is that Xirgu's legacy continues to live among us. The objective is to discover where her seed is and how her legacy is honored. At the Lliure, this autumn, they want to give us the answer.