Catalonia - Art and Culture 2018

Cinema and theatre FromLumière toBroadway The cinema came at the hand of babies at war and knights playing cards. And up to now has coexisted with the very rich theatre life.

The times changed and a famous stage art festival was born. It has been around for half a century and is no longer the only one of its kind. High Season and THE Grec Festival in Barcelona

© oriol llauradó

I

tricks in the 1905 film The Electric Hotel . In the 1970s, the Barcelona School was born, which like the English Free cinema or the French Nouvelle vague , wagered on the rebellion of the new languages. Its flame is kindled by directors such as Isabel Coixet , Juan Antonio Bayona , Jaume Balagueró or Jaume Collet-Serra from the United States. The Barcelona Broadway Despite the constant production of films, Catalonia is a land of theatre. In the 17th century it was a centre for European opera. In the early 20th century, the Barcelona Paral·lel, with its theatres and cabarets, was compared to Broadway of New York. With this background, Catalan companies and di- rectors travel the world. From Comediants and La Fura dels Baus , to opera and theatre directors like Lluís Pasqual and Calixto Bieito . Let’s not forget avant-garde compa- nies like Agrupación Señor Serrano. Raise the curtain!

n 1896, the Lumière brothers project- ed Babies Quarrel and Une partie d’écarté in the Napoleón photo- graphy studio in Barcelona. The spec- tators were astounded. One of them was Fructuós Gelabert , the author of the first Catalan film with a plot: Riña en un café (1897). In the early 20th century, Barcelona was already Spai n’s cinema capital thanks to directors like Segundo de Chomón , who surprised audiences with his visual

Victims of the years of dictatorship, in 1976, the Catalan actors and directors set up in an open- air theatre, the Teatro Grec . Here they organised a self-managed summer season that combined music and theatre. Soon the City Hall would take over the initiative and put on the Grec Festival in Barcelona. Today the festival is nearly half a cen- tury old, and has become a reference on the cal- endar of European festivals, with international productions of theatre, dance, circus, and mu- sic, while offering support and visibility to local companies. In 1992, Temporada Alta (High Season) ap- peared, a theatre event shared between the stages of Girona and Salt (Costa Brava). The health of theatre in Catalonia could not be better; It is constantly active, so much so that many cities now hold theatre exhibitions. The Catalan people’s great love of theatre has guar- anteed the success of established festivals such as FiraTàrrega , one of the most important inter- national stage art markets in Europe, and the Fira de titelles de Lleida , now approaching its 30th anniversary.

the festival grec in barcelona.

The most modern circus in the world Clowns, acrobats, jugglers, and and a great show! Reus’s Festival Trapezi is an event lasting several days with performances by circus companies from all around the world. Travelling shows can be seen in the outdoors in the small city squares and others in some of the theatres in Reus. The circus has modernised in recent decades and now perfectly blends in other stage arts. In the same way, Catalan dance has evolved constantly since the nineteen eighties. Have you seen that artist dance blindfolded on a floor covered in cactuses? It was Sol Picó. Now it is not surprising to see shows that mix dance and circus, performance and urban dances, such as the Brodas Bros company.

projection of Segundo de Chomón with PIANO accompaniment.

50.000 ATTEND SHOWS IN GIRONA DURING THE HIGH SEASON EACH YEAR

© GZ

64 /

/ 65

Discover Catalonia

Art and Creativity