The Piñeiro women: the working-class alliance of La Calòrica and T de Teatre

Tremble, Barcelona!Next February comes the TDC: T of Calòrica!Two of the most prestigious and well-known theater companies on the Catalan scene,T de Teatre and La Calòrica,join forces to present their first (and, for now, only) joint show. Its name?"The Piñeiro Women", a comedy about women who fightand that pays homage to the workers' struggles in factories during the 80s. The presentation of this alliance took place on Tuesday, May 5, at Nau Bòstik and, from the beginning, it did not resemble any other press conference. The melody ofL'Estaca by Lluís Llach,hymn of resistance and collective struggle, welcomed us at Nau Betor, warning us that we were about to witness the foundational act of a new scenic entity. Both companies staged their union under the acronym of the TDC (T of Calòrica),a theatrical "union" born to shake the foundations of the Barcelona billboard. The event has started withCarme Pla, Àgata Roca, Esther López and Júlia Truyolentering the room with a megaphone and identification armbands, shouting "Together we are stronger". This slogan worked with a double meaning: on the one hand, it presented her future work on working women; and, on the other, it celebrated her own alliance. And so began a day in which culture has been reclaimed as a space for shared work.

The TDC pact: a "fleeting love" between referents

This collaboration is, in reality, a dialogue between generationsthat have defined humor and theater in Catalonia. The genesis of the project dates back a year and a half ago, when the members of T de Teatre decided to contact La Calòrica.As Àgata Roca explained, the proposal was born from a total identification with the unique style of the "calóricos"its humor, its critical view of the world and, above all, the conception of theater understood as a collective and consensual space. For its part,La Calòrica immediately accepted the challenge.For a company that already has fifteen years of experience, Teatre's Ts are not just colleagues: they are authentic referents.Júlia Truyol has declared herself an absolute "fan"of montages likeDelicaciesor the seriesJet Lag, and it has been highlighted that a company with thirty-five years of experience has not settled into a specific format and continues to research and innovate, just like T de Teatre does. This is how the TDC: T de Calòrica is born. But it is not born to stay forever. Carme Pla has been very clear in defining this union as a"fleeting love",a sum of forces designed to raise a unique project. It is an alliance that will allow to putnine performers on stage, a figure that in current private theater is a true "rara avis" and that will allow a very interesting clash of styles and languages.

Les dones Piñeiro: working-class memory and neighborhood dignity

The result of this union is the showThe Piñeiro Women, an original text thatJoan Yagois still writing and will be directed by Israel Solà. The work transports us to Galicia in the eighties, from where the Piñeiro family will migrate to the metropolitan area of Barcelona to integrate into the industrial fabric of the time. Although the work is set in a fictional factory, the story draws directly from real events such as theSEAT eventsand the numerous union revolts that marked the identity of Barcelona's red belt.Júlia Truyolhas defined the show as a "comedy of women who fight"and aims to recover the role, often silenced by official history, of women in labor struggles. Yago's text will address themes such as family, class, gender, and identity, but always from the ironic and sharp prism that so characterizes La Calòrica. The choice of theNau Bòstikfor the presentation of this new show has had a symbolic reason: this space represents the factories where women workers organized, carried out sit-ins, and kept morale high through collective activities and popular celebrations.

The strength of collectivity on stage

This premiere will feature a large cast. The full cast of both companies will share the spotlight: the four actresses of T de Teatre (Carme Pla, Mamen Duch, Àgata Roca, and Marta Pérez) will share the stage with the five performers of La Calòrica (Xavi Francés, Aitor Galisteo-Rocher, Esther López, Marc Rius, and Júlia Truyol). In total, there will be nine actors and actresses on stage, which will require very careful choral work.

Israel Solà's direction will have to manage this tandem in which, as Esther López joked, it is sometimes difficult to agree even on the number of shows each company has under its belt (fifteen in the case of T de Teatre and about a dozen in the case of La Calòrica). But it is precisely this creative tension, this dialogue between comedic veteranism and punk satire, that makes Les dones Piñeiro such a necessary project.

"Attendance is a collective pact."

A closing with a revolutionary flavor

The founding act of the TDC ended as the best workers' struggles do: with a community celebration. The chords of Comandante Che Guevara bid farewell to the formal part of the press conference to give way to a popular sardine feast among attendees. As the brochure distributed during the performance said: "Attendance is a collective pact."

With the premiere set for February 2027 at the Teatre Poliorama, the TDC has already opened its advance sale and invites the public to be part of this extraordinary assembly. Undoubtedly, seeing this "union" in the theater is the best tribute to all those Piñeiro women who, with their anonymous effort, began to break with class and gender inequality. Because yes: together we are stronger.

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