Permagel by Eva Baltasar triumphs in Texas

In 2018, Eva Baltasar presented Permagel, a direct and ironic novel that inaugurated a trilogy that we can now call iconic. Now, this voice arrives for the first time on stage in a co-production by Dagoll Dagom and Barc, at the Teatre Texas.

The adaptation is by Albert Pijuan and the direction is by Victoria Szpunberg (awarded the National Prize for Dramatic Literature 2025). The challenge was not small: to transfer Baltasar's internal poetics to a stage space supported by a single actress: Maria Rodríguez Soto.

Permagel: an ice cave in a hospital room

Permagel introduces us to a woman who has decided to protect herself from the world by covering her heart with permafrost, this layer of permanently frozen earth. However, physical reality forces her out of her cave: her niece is hospitalized for an eye complication and she is in charge of watching over her, as her sister has just become a mother.

In the nakedness of a white hospital room, the protagonist is forced to deal with responsibility, the death drive, desire and, above all, with the unexpected connection with this girl who, unknowingly, begins to crack her wall of ice.

The word against action

The white set design functions as a mirror of the protagonist's inner world. The lights and the configuration of the space create this desolate atmosphere that breaks as the play progresses.

In this context, Maria Rodríguez Soto does a stratospheric job. The actress devours the stage during the 70 minutes of the performance; she nails the gestures, the changes of rhythm and the irony that we had all imagined when reading the novel. It is impossible to look away.

Even so, the adaptation presents a small dilemma. While Baltasar's book focuses almost exclusively on the character's psyche (where the action is almost anecdotal), the play focuses more on the hospital plot. This choice means that, at times, the protagonist's psychological depth is somewhat collapsed by the dramatic action. In the theater we see what she does, but perhaps we lose a little of this internal "frozen water" that we fell in love with on paper. All in all, the staging with the white curtains and the final symbolism achieve moments of overwhelming emotion and meaning.

A necessary journey

Permagel at Teatre Texas is a brave proposal that respects 90% of the author's original words but provides a physical truth that only theater can give. Although the weight of the plot may dilute the complexity of the literary character a bit, Rodríguez Soto's interpretation is so magnetic that you enjoy the show from beginning to end.

It is a play that confronts us with uncomfortable truths, but that knows how to use black humor to help us digest the pain. And Maria Rodríguez Soto's interpretation takes us from discomfort to laughter in a matter of seconds, simply brilliant!