Josep M. Mestres has taken on a very large project that requires a very firm hand in directing it. The text is complex and has required 13 actors to carry it out. An enormous task.
“There are still hearts that love, hearts that break, hope, fear, jealousy, desire...”
The Inheritance at Teatre Lliure: an immense project
The story, following the thread of Howard's End, tells us about a group of young homosexuals. At the center, Èric and Toby, but also Adam and Leo, Walter, Henry... and a narrator who appears from time to time who bears a great resemblance to E. M. Forster (Bravo to whoever did the casting!)
The stories of Èric, Toby, Adam, Leo, Jàsper, the two Jasons, Tristam... end up linked with the story of Walter and Henry. And with Howard's End.
A scenic game
The story moves between scenes between the characters, monologues that are as much footnotes as personal confessions of the characters. A departure from the staging to face the audience and strip bare.
The story also moves between the characters played by a group of students who work on literary creation and the students who try to butt in and intervene in the story they are bringing to life before us.
This change of point of view is done quickly, agilely... sometimes with all the actors on stage, some sitting on either side of the stage while others interpret the story... sometimes only with a narrator and some scene from the story... sometimes, we only see the interpreted scene and the rest of the actors / students / characters are outside.
It is a scenic game between the actors, the actors who play students, the actors who play students who interpret a character, the actors who play students and while interpreting a character make asides... and all this, which could seem complicated, is always very clear, very clean, and allows the audience to immediately become complicit in the story because the staging includes the audience and their intelligence.
“Then, the first insinuations of the disease had already turned into rumors, the rumors turned into stories and the stories turned into facts.”
Friendship, love and loss and fear
Friendship, love and loss... and also fear. HIV and AIDS, which appeared when Henry and Walter were young, is still a threat to this group of young people. They are still a stigma in society. They are privileged by their status, but they know they have a sword of Damocles hanging over them: health. Social.
A successful staging
The set design is very well designed. The furniture, mounted on wheels, is quickly brought in by the actors, sometimes while they are performing scenes at the same time. The same furniture can set up different spaces: Eric's house, Henry's, a hotel, Toby's apartment...
«How could such a transcendent experience have such serious consequences?»
The costumes are also very well designed. Actors playing double roles only need one accessory to change character: a jacket, some red element...
The stage movements are very well choreographed: the entrances, the exits, the changes of scenery, the interactions between the actors. They are so well done that even the rawest ones are done very elegantly.
«The great tragedy of your life has been to deny that it was your life.»
The lighting is a very well-worked element. It allows for chiaroscuro on stage, while highlighting one space, one actor, and the rest remains half in darkness. Lighting that becomes brilliant at the end, like a glimmer of hope.
The music accompanies the entire play and is very well integrated into the text and the staging, so that we feel it, but we don't listen to it. It accompanies the action, the word, but does not disturb.
Special mention to the text translator: Joan Sellent
The translator of the text, Joan Sellent, must be congratulated, because he has done a magnificent job... only I would have used «cardar» instead of «follar», which yes, is admitted in the dictionary... but we all know it is a Castilianism that has been introduced into our language and is avoidable.
«If you are not happy and are not loved, it is because you don't deserve it.»
The casting of L'herència is a success
Starting with Carles Martínez (who, curiously, bears a resemblance to E. M. Forster) and continuing with Dafnis Balduz, Ricard Boyle, Frances Cuéllar, Carlos Cuevas, Abel Folk, Eudald Font, Victor G. Casademunt, Teresa Lozano, Lluís Marquès, Albert Salazar, Marc Soler and Ferran Vilajosana.
Although the weight of the work is carried by Albert Salazar (splendid, truly, splendid) and Carlos Cuevas (very good!), the rest make the play a powerful production. Josep M. Mestres has applied the principle that if the supporting actors are excellent, the play will turn out well. And he has made an excellent choice of actors.
The Teatre Lliure has put on its best clothes and performs the function of a national theater, bringing to the stage a grand spectacle that only a grand theater can undertake. Congratulations!
L’Herència is a grand production in all aspects. A great text. A great translation. A great direction. A great staging. A great performance. Six long hours of theater... and, I assure you, they won't feel long at all.
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