‘[BLANK]’: theater about the void between young people and adults | babelia

It is not very common for two theaters to team up on the same project, so we must celebrate the appearance of [BLANK]. Two creation factories in Barcelona such as the Tantarantana Theater and the Center de les Arts Lliures join forces to present two works that complement each other. They can be seen independently, but it is preferable to see both, since they are two sides of the same coin: the British playwright Alice Birch wrote [BLANK] in 2019, a work made up of 100 scenes. The author gives absolute freedom to the directors so that they choose and mount the scenes that they think are most convenient. The text was premiered by the Clean Break company at the Donmar Warehouse in London, and can now be seen for the first time in Catalan with a translation by Helena Tornero. [BLANK] proposes situations that portray two generations and, in particular, space or emptiness (blank, in English) that exists between them. Adults, at the Center de les Arts Lliures, and young people, at the Tantarantana.

The montage adult It is directed by Roberto Romei and is the more consistent of the two, above all because of the choice of scenes. There is violence, sadness and a lot of pain in this version of the work, performed magnificently by Dani Arrebola, Elena Fortuny, Laura López and Francesca Vadell. Fortuny stars in a thrilling scene with drama and conviction, Vadell injects the (much-needed) comedic tone to lighten the mood, and López nails the role of her as the social worker unable to do her job. Dani Arrebola exchanges the traditional roles in the father-son relationship in one of the most disturbing scenes in the montage, when he talks to his son via video call. The two shows are literally connected in some scenes through live chat conversations: it’s very interesting to see the two montages to capture the reality of each character’s moment. The artistic team of the two works is the same, in which the enigmatic projections designed by Carme Gomila and Marc Homar stand out, some images halfway between the Windows 2000 wallpaper and a hallucinogenic nightmare where everything moves in slow motion .

The two shows literally connect in some scenes via live chat conversations.

The youth version, directed by Marc Chornet, is even cruder, if possible. This is due to the choice of scenes and a disconcerting set design, between the domestic space and the public square, with a cold wire wall that misleads a bit. The stories of these young people are also full of alcohol, drugs and abuse of all kinds, in a merciless and hopeless portrayal of a lost generation. The four performers are fantastic, especially Imèn Akandouch Aouattah in the role of a victim of bullying and Jan Mediavilla Marimón as the son who controls his father. Alice Birch, also a writer for series like Succession o Normal people, portrays a society, the British, where all social classes live with depression, anxiety and self-harm. A world full of caseworkers where parents and children desperately need each other, but neither listen nor truly connect. A world, unfortunately, very similar to ours.

‘[BLANK]’. Text: Alice Birch. Direction: Roberto Romei and Marc Chronet. Tantarantana Theater and Liberal Arts Center. Barcelona Until March 12.

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