Personal, heartbreaking, and dreamlike. The Teatre Lliure presents the most personal and daring Federico García Lorca with El público, a theatrical piece that travels to the heart and subconscious of the Granada poet to penetrate the minds of the spectators. With scenes that alternate between the real and the dreamlike, Lorca heartbreakingly presents his vision on love, sexuality, and the purpose of theatrical art.
El público lands in Montjuïc directly from Uruguay in a production by the Comedia Nacional de Montevideo, a company founded by an acquaintance of the Granada author: the actress Margarida Xirgu. Xirgu, exiled in Uruguay until her last days, brought Lorca's work to the stages of Montevideo. Almost a century later, the company will represent the most transgressive Lorca in Barcelona after its premiere in Montevideo last March.
The director and set designer Marta Pazos recognizes the challenge of confronting Lorca's most enigmatic and symbolic text. It is not surprising that this work has been classified within the so-called theater of the impossible. In this representation, Pazos, who already surprised with her colorful version of Alexina B. at El Liceu, converts these symbols of Lorca's text into scenographies and color. The director assures that the spectator must "stop trying to understand it all the time" and simply "relax and let art penetrate them."
The Teatre Lliure, which already staged Federico García Lorca in the previous season with Yerma ---interpreted by María Hervás--- now repeats with the author's most personal and politically committed version. An uncomfortable Lorca who could not openly express his sexuality and "did the only thing he could do: theater," concludes the director of the Comedia Nacional de Uruguay, Gabriel Calderón. He adds that the anxieties and fears Lorca felt are still present: "Today, so many years later, we still understand much of this fear; while it is true that it is not dangerous to perform the play, it is dangerous to express what we think and sexual freedom."
With tickets practically sold out, El público can be seen at the Teatre Lliure between January 15 and 26. This theatrical piece is one of the highlights of the 24/25 season, the first under the direction of Julio Manrique at the Lliure, and which will also bring to the stage works such as La brama del cérvol, by La Calórica, or L'herència with Carlos Cuevas.