The Almagro International Classical Theater Festival awards the Corral de Comedias Prize to Lluís Pasqual. The theater director receives this distinction for his career, his importance as a transformer of scenic languages and the bridge he has built between theatrical tradition, heritage and contemporary and avant-garde perspective.
The award ceremony, agreed unanimously by the festival’s patronage, will be held on June 30 in the Castilian-La Mancha town as the opening ceremony of the 45th edition of this stage event.
The theater director Lluís Pasqual (Reus, 1951) has been distinguished with the XXII Corral de Comedias Prize, awarded by the Almagro International Classical Theater Festival, “for his career as a stage director, his importance as a transformer of scenic languages and the bridge that it has constituted between the theatrical tradition, heritage and the contemporary and avant-garde look”, according to the director of the festival Ignacio García.
The decision to award the prize to Pasqual was made unanimously by the festival’s board of trustees. “It is a gesture of justice -explains Ignacio García- to acknowledge him and thank him for his effort in consolidating contemporary theater in Spain, in putting Spain in Europe and in the world. To speak of Lluís Pasqual is to speak of our theater history, of four decades of theatrical democracy and which also coincide, more or less, with the 45 years of the Almagro Festival”
The director of the festival underlines Pasqual’s theatrical vision “without complexes; without giving up tradition, heritage, but daring to look at it and challenge it from a different point of view”
The professional career of Lluís Pasqual is, therefore, imbricated in the history of Spanish and European theater. He graduated in Philosophy and Letters and in Dramatic Art from the Institut del Teatre of the Diputación de Barcelona. In 1968 he directed his first show and in 1976 he founded Teatre Lliure, an essential formation of theater in Catalonia, whose direction he held at various times throughout his life. He directed the National Dramatic Center between 1983 and 1989 and in the following decade he took charge of the L’Odeon Theater in Paris, where he remained for six years.
Later he directed the Venice Biennale and the Arriaga Theater in Bilbao. He has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the National Theater Award, the Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur de France and the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts.
His milestones as a stage director are the world premieres of El Público (1986) and Comedia sin titulo (1989), both by Federico García Lorca, his version of Luces de bohemia, by Valle-Inclán (1984), La tempestad, of Shakespeare… and “so many classics, ours and universal ones – Ignacio García points out -, which have marked the way for several generations of actors, directors and people who love theater and who, as audiences, as artists, have accompanied Lluís Pasqual and from whom we have also learned with his teachings as a pedagogue”.
Pasqual has directed two shows at the Almagro International Classical Theater Festival: La hija del aire, by Pedro Calderón de la Barca, in 1981, starring Ana Belén, and El Caballero de Olmedo, by Félix Lope de Vega, in 2014, in the version of academic Francisco Rico.
Historic Comedy Corral Award
2021, Julieta Serrano, actress
2020, Ana Belen, actress.
2019, Adriana Ozores, actress.
2018, Carlos Hipólito, actor.
2017, José Sacristán, actor.
2016, Concha Velasco, actress.
2015, José Luis Gómez, actor.
2014, Julia Gutierrez Caba, actress.
2013, Schaubuhne in Berlin.
2012, National Classical Theater Company.
2011, Nuria Espert, actress and stage director.
2010, Francisco Nieva, stage director, set designer and playwright.
2009, José Carlos Plaza, stage director.
2008, Declan Donnellan, stage manager; and Nick Ormerod, set designer. Both founders of the company Cheek by Jowl.
2007, Norma Aleandro, actress and author.
2006, Vanessa Redgrave, actress.
2005, Michel Piccoli, actor.
Previously, two prizes were awarded, the Almagro Festival and the Castile-La Mancha Performing Arts
2004, Almagro Prize: Royal Shakespeare Company; and Castilla-La Mancha Performing Arts Award: Miguel Narros, stage director, and Andrea D’Odorico, set designer.
2003, Almagro Prize: Francisco Ruiz Ramón, author and teacher; and Castilla-La Mancha Performing Arts Award: José María Flotats, actor and stage director.
2002, Almagro Prize: Miguel Narros, stage director; and Castilla-La Macha Scenic Arts Award, Antonio Gades, dancer and choreographer.
2001, Almagro Prize: Comèdie Française, theater company; and Castilla-La Mancha Performing Arts Award: Teatre Lliure Foundation, theater company.
