50 years ago, a group of theater professionals decided it was time to found a new institution that would have a stable theater company, allowing them to research how to make theater and for everyone to be able to access their productions. Without yet knowing it, they were about to found one of the great temples of theater in Barcelona: the Teatre Lliure.
In the manifesto of its foundation (which, by the way, can be read on the Lliure's website) we can see what the objectives of its founders were: Muntsa Alcahiz, Xavier Clot, Imma Colomer, Francesc Cruzate, Joan Ferrer, Lluis Homar, Carles Jorge, Anna Lizaran, Josep Minguell, Lluis Pasqual, Pere Planella, Joan Ponce, Fabia Puigserver, Dom dnoce Reixach, Fermi Reixach, Antoni Sevilla and Carlota Soldevila. Names that, today, every theater lover recognizes and that, back then, were just a group of people with a common dream. A dream that, finally, came true.
When we read the manifesto to understand the reason for the creation of the theater, we find the following paragraph:
«We have considered necessary the creation of a stable theater company (with all the nuances that the term stable entails in theatrical terms), which could unite a part of these dispersed efforts (...) The theater man, collectively and dialectically reunited, has a direct impact: by helping the development of theater, he helps the entire community to be able to recognize itself through theater.»
A theater that sought stability, union, and collectivity. A theater designed for people to recognize themselves in it and be part of it. But, in addition, their idea was also to create a theater for everyone, without economic or social class barriers. In the manifesto they state it clearly:
«That is why we will seek our spectators, as far as possible, in all areas: young people, workers, office workers, schools and different trades, offering our shows, which we will try to ensure have the highest artistic level, at the lowest prices we can. We do not intend to make experimental theater or minority theater, reserved for a series of initiates, but art theater for all.»
They wanted to create an open theater, a theater that could accommodate all people, but also all ideas, all activities, all possibilities. A Teatre Lliure, after all. A theater with enough freedom to impact and leave a mark on the collective, because:
«We do not want to offer passive contemplation. We like the term "celebration," not the term "pastime."»
The Lliure's program to celebrate its 50th anniversary
Half a century of life is not celebrated every day, and the Teatre Lliure has designed a program that looks with pride at its foundational past but, above all, poses uncomfortable questions to the future. Although the season hides many more surprises and parallel activities, these are the great pillars that will mark a historic year.
L'òpera de tres rals
After its premiere at the Grec 2026, the mythical "opera for beggars" by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill will be in charge of officially opening the season. If in the 76-77 season Fabià Puigserver and Carles Santos already brought Brecht to the Lliure, fifty years later it is the Galician director Marta Pazos who takes over. With translation by Marc Rosich and musical direction by Dani Espasa, the return of Mackie the Knife is both a tribute to the origins of the theater and a cry of alert against capitalism.
Bouvetøya (La necessitat d'una illa)
Julio Manrique rewrites a love song to the theater. This work was created in 2020 to inaugurate the Temporada Alta in the midst of the pandemic, and now returns rewritten six years later to join the Lliure's anniversary. The current director of the Lliure directs a luxury cast (Mireia Aixalà, Ivan Benet, Cristina Genebat, among others) on an absurd but meaningful journey to the most remote island in the world. A story about friendship, loyalty, and the need to continue sharing stories on a stage.
Júlia – 15 anys més tard (2011-2026)
In 1985, Anna Lizaran and Lluís Homar made history at the Lliure with La senyoreta Júlia. Now, the Brazilian director Christiane Jatahy takes on a very special commission: to update her own version of the play by bringing it to present-day Catalonia. Starring Júlia Genís and Moha Amazian, the proposal establishes a dialogue between cinema and theater to demonstrate how misogyny, intolerance, and class prejudices continue to cross eras and continents.
L'herència
The return of a award-winning theatrical phenomenon. L'herència was the great show two seasons ago and now returns home recognized by a wide variety of Butaca and Critics' Awards. Josep Maria Mestres once again leads this play by Matthew López inspired by Howards End. A moving, tender, and heartbreaking portrait of a generation of young gay men in Trump-era New York. Told through an impeccable cast (with Carlos Cuevas, Albert Salazar, or Abel Folk), its return celebrates that the Lliure, fifty years after its birth, continues to be a fundamental space in our artistic memory.
Xirgu
Israel Solà, director of the company La Calòrica, leads the new promotion of graduates from the Institut del Teatre on a journey towards the figure of Margarida Xirgu. The objective is to trace the footprint of the great actress, pedagogue, and visionary in 21st-century performers. The proposal also has historical value: the participation of Muntsa Alcañiz, founder of the Lliure.
Un home de teatre
The founder of the Lliure, Lluís Homar, will star in an unrepeatable night. The actor and director will focus on how words have shaped his identity and career over these 50 years. An intergenerational encounter that will dialogue on stage with the dance of Unax Homar and the avant-garde music of Clara Aguilar.
Un drama romàntic
Lucía Carballal, one of the most solid voices in contemporary Spanish dramaturgy, writes and directs this "romantic drama" that mutates into an acidic comedy. Starring Victoria Luengo and Marina Salas, the text narrates the wedding of two women from opposite backgrounds (one from a working-class family, the other bourgeois) to reflect on the real value of commitment in the 21st century and how social status can dynamite our relationships.
Relíquia
The young and award-winning writer Pol Guasch takes to the stage adapting his autobiographical story about his father's suicide, the subsequent pain, and the reconstruction of family memory. Directed by the master of atmosphere Pablo Messiez, and with a high-caliber interpretive trio (Guillem Balart, Nausicaa Bonnín, and Elisabet Casanovas), this work has the challenge of bringing the poetic power of literature to the physical and carnal force of theater.
Grans bardisses
Winner of the Premi Quim Masó 2025, Llàtzer Garcia's text settles in at the Lliure after passing through the Grec. Anna Alarcón, Clàudia Benito, and Carlota Olcina play three sisters reunited for Sant Jordi in an inhospitable refuge built by their late father. A proposal without artifice and with a Chekhovian aroma, where an unexpected twist will force them to settle accounts with the past.
Enric IV
David Selvas turns Shakespeare into a queer revolution. Selvas takes on the direction of one of Shakespeare's least represented historical dramas, adapted for the occasion by Llàtzer Garcia. With an imposing cast led by Juanjo Puigcorbé, Joan Carreras, and Biel Duran, the play dissects the violent mechanisms of political power, confronting them with the insurrection of Falstaff, here transformed into the master of ceremonies of a queer and subversive party in the 21st century.
Rocco and His Brothers
Director Mercè Vila Godoy and playwright Eu Manzanares pay homage to classic cinema by adapting Luchino Visconti's mythical film for the stage. Nil Cardoner, David Menéndez, Marta Pérez, and Mima Riera bring to life this family from the south who emigrate north seeking a better future, only to become trapped in a web of precariousness, violence, and urban disintegration. A universal tragedy about migration and broken dreams that directly dialogues with our present.
Much more than theater
In addition to the stage proposal, the Lliure wants to celebrate its anniversary in style. For this reason, it has designed parallel activities that seek to revive its history and acknowledge the legacy of a human chain that began in 1976. The visual memory can be enjoyed at the Palau Robert, which will be transformed with the exhibition Un Teatre Lliure. In it, five set designers from different generations (Frederic Amat, Montse Amenós, Lluc Castells, Sílvia Delagneau, and Max Glaenzel) will erect conceptual installations to honor each of the theater's decades. An exhibition that will also come to life with the fictionalized visits of El teatre amagat.
Meanwhile, the theater's venues will become living museums. Montjuïc will exhibit a look at the origins through the eyes of students from the La Sedeta school and will project a video documentary by Francesc Isern about the original model of the building. In Gràcia, the homage will be presented in audiovisual format with the recovery of the filming of the mythical inaugural night of December 2, 1976.
On the weekend of October 3 and 4, Viu el Lliure is organized. Director Didier Ruiz will lead guided tours through the bowels of the building, conducted by the workers themselves. And, that same afternoon, Plaça Margarida Xirgu will host a big popular party open to all citizens, with live music, food, and birthday cake.
To round off the celebration, Barcelona's major venues have joined the party. The Gran Teatre del Liceu will revive the spirit of the legendary Orquestra de Cambra del Lliure under the baton of Josep Pons, and the Palau de la Música will pay tribute to Carles Santos by bringing back his famous Cantúria Cantada. Thought and debate will also have their space: the former La Model prison will host talks on Teatre i democràcia as part of the Biennal de Pensament, and an international symposium by the UAB will analyze the public theater model with a luxury closing by Jordi Bosch and Emma Vilarasau.
The 2026/27 season will undoubtedly be a historic season at the Teatre Lliure. Great plays, exhibitions, and parallel activities that, 50 years later, continue to promote an open, reflective, and, above all, free theater. Congratulations Teatre Lliure!