El Maldà stays true to its identity: making community theater from a short distance. The Gothic quarter venue has presented its program for the 2026-2027 season with a declaration of intent that seeks to reclaim collective creation, memory, and political debate as instruments of cultural resistance.
A programme that, moreover, comes endorsed by the loyalty of its audience. The theater closes the 2025-2026 season near-capacity houses: more than 11,000 spectators and 85% occupancy over 277 performances. A figure that demonstrates that local theater is more alive than ever.
12 shows with an emphasis on the collective
El Maldà is a small venue in the center of Barcelona that is also part of the collective On el teatre batega. For 13 years, the space has been managed by the company Els Pirates Teatre, which this year is celebrating its 25th anniversary.
For this new stage, the small palace on Carrer del Pi will offer a total of 12 productions: 5 premieres, 6 revivals of successes, and 1 dance show. As Núria Cuyàs, a member of the company, reminds us, the common element of the season is "the collective as a form of creation, coexistence, growth, and artistic resistance."
This spirit can be clearly seen in a program that combines humor, music, drama, and social criticism to invite us to reflect on identity, power, and recent history. The new billboard comes loaded with new works of contemporary Catalan drama and poignant views on our present, such as Consulta familiar, the comedy that will open the season and is written by Marga Arrom and directed by Alba Collado. After premiering at the Grec Festival, it will return to the venue for us to laugh at the taboos surrounding female sexuality and new family models.
The collective as a form of creation, coexistence, growth, and artistic resistance.
In October, Lo de Jaume I premieres, a musical satire by Cia. Al cel, selected through the On el teatre batega 2026 call for projects. It is a proposal with lyrics by Guillem Cuixart and music by Marc Sambola, which revisits Serafí Pitarra's classic to takes aim at the rise of the far right. In January, the company La Fatal rewrites the legend of Bisila (a traditional figure from Bioko island) to propose a reflection on cultural appropriation and the colonial gaze.
Els oblidats (The Forgotten) is the new production by Els Pirates Teatre and will premiere in March as part of the Festival Shakespeare. Laura Aubert and Carla Coll move away from the great kings to give voice to those secondary characters who do not declare wars, but who suffer their consequences. In April, it will be the turn of Allò de l'Iran (That Thing About Iran), a documentary theatre piece about the life of Shima and her relationship with Iran from exile. A work that questions how a country tells its own story and how our identity defines us.
The company Facòf brings in May El piset (The Little Flat), a black comedy directed by Eu Manzanares about the nightmare of finding affordable housing in a Catalonia where rent has risen by 60% in the last five years. In June, it will be the turn of Cartografia de la llum (Cartography of Light), by Col·lectiu Desasosiego; a show that intertwines Boccaccio's Decameron, the history of a city nightclub, and Pasolini's critical spirit.
Returning productions
At El Maldà, they know that good stories deserve a second (and third) chance and, for this reason, their program recovers some of the productions that have been best received by local audiences. The re-premieres will begin in November with the return of Hi! I’m Steven, by the company Les Pinyes. This modern fable has become an emblem of the venue: a poetic and urgent cry against gentrification that directly relates to the reality of the Gothic Quarter.
During the same month of November, the stage will be filled with sensitivity and complicity with Guillermotta, an intimate concert conceived by Jordi Prat i Coll and performed by Jordi Vidal. It is an elegant and fun show that rediscovers the musical universe of Guillermina Motta and the Nova Cançó from a contemporary perspective.
Towards December, Observin aquests fills de puta, a satire about corruption, politics, and the the murky underbelly of power signed by the company Dúo Fàcil, which settles in the venue for the third consecutive year, will return to the stage. In February, the public will be able to reunite with Escenes d'una separació, one of last season's great successes by the company El Eje. Directed by Mercè Vila Godoy and written by Eva Pauné Martínez, the piece reinterprets Ingmar Bergman's classic Secrets d'un matrimoni to place two women at the center of the story and focus on how love, economic instability, and the need for rootedness intertwine in our time.
Beyond Carrer del Pi
El Maldà's project does not stop at the walls of its venue. Currently, the space currently has seven productions touring across Catalonia (such as El bon policia or Les dones sàvies) to bring its productions to different municipalities.
In addition, it consolidates the Espai Robrenyo as a creation and rehearsal laboratory, which this year will host artistic residencies by companies such as Col·lectiu Desasosiego and El Eje. A declaration of intent that keeps El Maldà's great motto alive: to make theatre a deeply personal encounter between performers and audiences.