The (unjust) Darwinism of literary history relegates too many relevant authors to the ocean of oblivion. This occurs in cases of extreme radicality such as that of Ignasi Iglésias, a modernist poet and playwright idolized by the popular classes during the turn of the 19th to the 20th century, and now banished to the dustbin of history with a null presence on our stages (the last production of La barca nova at the TNC was in 1999). This comes to mind because the meritorious publishing house Adesiara (commanded by Jordi Raventós, a man from the Jaume Vallcorba school who places texts from our tradition in line with the best of universal literature) has just recovered the work Els vells with a splendid and enlightening prologue by the philologist and musician Gemma Bartolí, where the relevance of a text premiered at the Romea in 1903 with some burning aspects of the spirit of our time is very well explained.
It would be very easy to connect Iglesias's work and the ravings of his long-suffering workers to ageism and the economic predation of a present in which the new global technocracy threatens to accumulate all the planet's wealth and limit the democratic rights of the almost extinct middle class. Indeed, Els vells tells the story of Joan and Valeri, two workers fired from the company where they work due to their old age; through these unfortunate beings, Iglésias very finely recounts the state of shame and despair of men who only fight to survive. But I would say that the connection becomes even more evident in the prediction of a perpetual state of anguish where young people, in turn, face the decadence of these elders under the constant dread of no future. I am talking about characters like Agustí, for whom the precarious future of his social class appears as a kind of paralyzing ghost of any redemption.
It is very well understood that this was one of Iglésias's most popular texts, and not only because of the height of its thematic axis, but also because of the general pessimism of its author, who also foresaw the failure of the struggle for collective rights due to a future in which each individual would be governed by selfishness.
If public theater does not get to it, I strongly recommend young companies to rush to the work and proceed to stage it as soon as possibleI must confess with some shame that I had not yet read a text by this illustrious andreuenc, and I affirm that Iglésias's work must be recovered not only by appealing to its patrimonial sense (only in what refers to our tradition of workers' theater), but also by a gently careful oral language model and, in turn,so that our present and future playwrights may appreciate the master's skill in creating atmospheres of existential anguishwith very few replicas, in the manner of Ibsen. If public theater does not get to it, I strongly recommend young companies to rush to the work and proceed to stage it as soon as possible.
After seeing the limited impact that the commemoration of the centenary of Àngel Guimerà's death has had throughout the country, and he being a much more renowned playwright (although with a work still to be thematically reviewed, as Xavier Albertí and Albert Arribas explain very well in Guimerà: home símbol), the future of Iglésias's work still raises more doubts. Despite the misfortune of our theatrical heritage, I would recommend to the heroes of Adesiara to soon complement this book jewel with a volume made up of several works by the author, which perhaps could include Foc follet, Les garses and L'home de palla.
While public theaters do not fulfill their duty, alas, we will have to settle for this piece, which can be read in an afternoon but will make you think for weeks, of that uncomfortable theater that we like so much at home, precisely because it talks about what we do not want to see.