June is the month when festivals kick off in our city. With the arrival of the heat, the desire to go out and enjoy the great leisure and cultural events that are organized also appears, and if there is one powerful, suitable for all audiences and rich in proposals, it is the Grec. This year, in addition, its approach has been like Odysseus' return to Ithaca, after five years of travel through distant lands and countries, it once again focuses on the origin, on the European continent, and on Barcelona, but with an eye on the future of the performing arts.
And in that return home, they have started by recovering the image of the Faun ---that Puck from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream---, so characteristic and present in the collective imagination when one thinks of the festival.
Among the ambitions of this edition, they propose an interesting reinterpretation of classics and an increase in the presence of national proposals. All of this, together with the end of restrictions that will allow venues to be filled, will make us experience the festival as a great celebration after these recent times of difficulties. In this edition, therefore, the Grec wants to contribute to restoring public confidence in theaters, and act as a driver for the upcoming theater season, in addition to revealing, disseminating, and promoting the closest artistic talent, without neglecting the commitment to international creation.
If there is a powerful festival, suitable for all audiences and rich in proposals, it is the GrecWe have four intense weeks ahead of us in which we will be able toenjoy 86 shows and more than 50 activities programmed in around 55 different spaces of the city, with an inauguration by one of Europe's most prestigious dance companies, the Nederlands Dans Theater – NDT 1. And we can't think of a better way to celebrate it than with a small guide to the program through suggested itineraries. Come and see:
Summer Nights
In this first itinerary, proposals with a Portuguese and flamenco flavor stand out, as well as the high musical level, in addition to the reinterpretation of Molière's Tartuffe, with an impeccable Pepe Viyuela leading the cast, and the clown version of the Golden Age play El Diablo Cojuelo, which in the hands of playwright Juan Mayorga "is neither a clownish classic nor a clown show with classical references."
Although the epicenter will be at the Teatre Grec, marked by the Lusitanian air with the Noche de Fado or the anticipated collaboration between Portuguese singer Salvador Sobral and pianist and composer Marco Mezquida, the concerts by Jane Birkin and Roger Mas are also noteworthy.
At the Mercat de les Flors, we will feel a more flamenco atmosphere with the innovative show Peculiar by Cia. Ana Morales, and there will also be a lot of art in the courtyard of the Nou Barris District headquarters, which becomes a stage dedicated to cante hondo to host Desvarío, the heir to the Flamenco a Nou Barris festival. There we will be able to listen to great names of the scene such as Arcángel accompanied by Miguel Ángel Cortés and Los Mellis; the fusion trio formed by Josemi Carmona, Javier Colina and Bandolero who will feature the special performance of Pepe Habichuela; or the show Jardín Impuro by dancer and choreographer Andrés Marín.
Essentials at the Grec
If you don't want to spend a lot of time deciding what to see, this is your itinerary, because you will hardly regret your choice. Theater is the great protagonist, with adaptations that look to the future. Thus we find El burlador de Sevilla based on Tirso de Molina by the Cia. Nacional de Teatro Clásico; the never-outdated An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen under the direction of Thomas Ostermeier; or the spectacular version of Shakespeare's Hamlet interpreted by people with Down syndrome and led by director Chela De Ferrari.
One must not leave out either the proposal by Helena Tornero with her Paraíso Perdido based on John Milton's poem; or the multi-award-winning Europa Bull by Indi Gest and her reflection on our continent. But if there are two hybrid proposals, both led by women, that are not to be missed under any circumstances, they are those brought to us by Sílvia Pérez Cruz with her Género Imposible and Christina Rosenvigne together with Marta Pazos and María Folguera with her Safo. Finally, and as an essential culmination, the collaboration of the flamenco dancer Israel Galván and L'Escolania de Montserrat at the Mercat de les Flors.
Innovators
There are always those who think that innovation entails risk, but also great discoveries or the unexpected. This itinerary is marked by hybrid and surprising proposals such as the one brought to us by El conde de Torrefiel in their Una imagen interior; La Trilogie des Contes Immoraux by Cie. Non Nova by Phia Ménard; or Desbordes by Amaranta Velarde.
Music will also have a space at the Mercat de les Flors thanks to the pandeireteira Mercedes Peón and her investigations into Galician musical tradition brought to the stage; and the collaborative sextet formed by Tarta Relena, Las Sara Fontán and Cocanha who will delve into the musicality of textile factories. And locally produced theater that will be worth seeing, such as Ofèlia (Panic Attack) by Àlex Rigola; or at the Teatre Lliure, with Aspecte global d'una qüestió by Atresbandes. Special mention to the production by one of the most radical playwrights of European theater, Romeo Castellucci and his Bros which can also be seen at the Lliure.
'Roda el món'
The last itinerary proposed by the Grec festival is the one that invites us to look a little further afield, though without ceasing to name nearby projects such as that of the singer Rocío Márquez, who this time has allied herself with one of the great names in electronic music, Bronquio. Thus, also a lot of European dance with names as interesting as Alan Lucien Oyen and his Story, story, die; or those of the dancers from Pina Bausch's company, Nazareth Panadero and Michael Strecker who present their work disassociated from the Tanztheater Wuppertal. And there is also circus, with the Groupe Acrobatique de Tanger and their FIQ (Wake Up!), which had to be suspended from the program last year.
In the theater section, we highlight a show designed solely and exclusively for children by the Agrupación Señor Serrano, Olympus kids, where adults are not allowed; and the absolute premiere of a digital Broadway creation that will have the Ideal. Centre d'Arts Digitals as a backdrop: Immersive next to normal, with one of the most successful musical performers, Alice Ripley.
Parallel, free, and street programming
We left out many more shows to name, to let the reader also trace their own itinerary taking advantage of the 30% and 50% discounts for buying three or five different proposals. And also, we invite you to enjoy the parallel, free, and street programming that will take place in spaces such as civic centers, libraries, or Margarida Xirgu square, or the cycle of dramatized readings On el teatre batega that will be carried out in a series of neighborhood theaters.
But before the lights of the stalls go out, we have a new proposal, curated by Vicent Fibla and the Eufònic Festival, which will take place in the mythical El Molino del Paral·lel during two weekends. Molinex, according to its curator, aims to be a great celebration of the scene in which to find performing arts and music, performance and DJ, drag shows and poetic actions, among many other things, always with a clearly multidisciplinary character and with a critical, queer and transfeminist perspective.
One more year, inclusive proposals for all people, and in the words of the director of Grec, Francesc Casadesús "in this year's program there are close and familiar territories: Dutch dance, German theater, English musical, Portuguese fado, Catalan singer-songwriters, Fellini's universe, French chanson, but also distant in time and revisited from a current perspective […]. Topics for reflection, such as democracy, the environment, racism, fascisms, sexual identities, technology or border problems in Europe, and topics that make us profoundly human, such as poetry, laughter, illusion, trust or love". Sshh, silence, and let the show begin.