The initiative Cap Butaca Buida was born last year with a very clear purpose: to fill all the theater halls in Catalonia on the same day. The intention was to create a national theater festival, replicating the success of other cultural festivals like the popular Sant Jordi. In its second edition, the initiative not only aims to repeat this successful formula but even to surpass its previous record and, for this reason, it is putting on sale up to 80,000 seats in more than 200 theaters to fill all the halls next Saturday, March 22.
More than 55,000 spectators in 176 plays distributed in 145 spaces in a single day. These were the figures with which the first edition of Cap Butaca Buida closed and with which Catalonia managed to become the first territory to reach the world record for theater spectators in a single day. The initiative now aims to surpass itself and increase the number of filled seats.
Although most of the halls adhering to this second edition are again concentrated in Barcelona, which has more than 145 participating venues, halls from Tarragona, Girona, and Lleida also participate. In addition, this year, as a novelty, the theater festival extends beyond Catalan territory and will also incorporate theaters from the Balearic Islands, Northern Catalonia, the Valencian Community, and Alghero.
"Every play, every performance scheduled for March 22 is an invitation to enjoyment, reflection, dialogue, and a meeting between generations; supporting theater is investing in a space of expression that transforms society and creates an artistic and social legacy that benefits us all," defended Isabel Vidal, president of the Association of Theater Companies of Catalonia (Adetca). The entity promotes the initiative together with the CCMA, in addition to the support of the Catalan Institute of Cultural Companies of the Department of Culture of the Generalitat, within the framework of the Catalonia Theater Promotion Plan 2023-2026, and the collaboration of various institutions, theaters, athenaeums, producers, and adhering companies.
During Saturday, March 22, in Barcelona, works such as the last journey of Mar i Cel will be enjoyed with two sessions at the Teatre Victòria, before definitively bidding farewell to the stage after 50 years of trajectory. In addition to Mar i Cel, musical lovers can also choose Groundhog Day, the great Broadway hit directed by Àngel Llàcer and Manu Guix, or relive the love of Danny and Sandy with Grease at the Tívoli. There will also be space for drama with Un Déu Salvatge at the Goya or Dones de Ràdio at La Villaroel, as well as for the improvised comedy of Improshow.
A wide variety of proposals to celebrate the great theater festival, to which family audiences and dance lovers will also be called to fill these 80,000 seats that are now on sale. "There are no excuses: find the play you like best, gather friends, family and go out to enjoy a unique experience, because theater is a fundamental pillar of our community," highlighted the vice president of Adetca, Toni Albaladejo. In addition, Cap Butaca Buida will allocate a percentage of the proceeds to Pallapupas, an NGO made up of professional actors and actresses who work on the therapeutic uses of humor in hospital centers.