Yesterday, in the Municipal Theater of Girona you could breathe the atmosphere of the big opening nights. There were plenty of reasons, because several factors converged to make it a unique evening. On the one hand, after the previous performances in September Carmina Burana from La Fura dels Baus, this week the Montaña Alta festival kicked off with all the artillery. On Thursday the “horror story” by Jordi Casanovas premiered There is a little house far away, in the Kropotkin room of the Coma Cros Cultural Factory, in Salt, with great acceptance from the public, who could feel the fear very close, getting more than one scare in an intimate and dilapidated space.
Secondly, because David Mamet’s great comedy was recovered A Boston wedding, which premiered in Catalan in 2005 in Espai Lliure, at the express request of Anna Lizaran. The longed-for actress then summoned Josep Maria Mestres to direct her, with Emma Vilarasau and Marta Marco.
Mestres directs a vibrant ‘A Boston Marriage’, which summons the spirit of Anna Lizaran
And thirdly, because, a decade after Lizaran’s death, the actresses Emma Vilarasau, Marta Marco and Emma Arquillué took the baton and convened a new coven to make the great text of the Chicago playwright shine with dazzling fire.
The plot pivots around a necklace and the give and take between the characters of Anna (Vilarasau) and Claire (Marco). The first rotates and constantly changes situations to retain her dear friend at any cost. Seduction, deception, power struggle and love, especially love, between two women who love and need each other… and who don’t need men at all. “Men were born to be deceived,” repeats the character Anna.
If the memory of the duel between Lizaran and Vilarasau survives in the memory of the lucky ones who witnessed it nineteen years ago, the new duel between Vilarasau and Marco once again builds an interpretive edifice where each word and each reply shines with its own light. Of course, the fencing of Mamet’s text serves first-class material on a silver platter.
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As a counterpoint, the character of the maid, a hilarious Emma Arquillué, constantly mistreated by the ladies, who, in addition to humor, brings the salt and pepper of popular wit to the show.
“This work is a gift that Anna Lizaran gave us and now we return it to the public, because gifts have to be returned. It is celebrating a legacy and honoring it again, without any nostalgia. The work is part of our emotional memory, but also of the public, although not many people saw it at the time,” recalls Josep Maria Mestres, who directed the two productions.
Needless to say, yesterday the spirit of Anna Lizaran attended the Girona premiere. Perhaps it was thanks to the séance that had to be held on stage and that the necklace worn by Emma Vilarasau was intended to be used as an amulet, and which was the same one that Lizaran wore in 2005, courtesy of the Teatre Lliure. Or, simply, because he did not want to miss Mamet’s magnificent text in Joan Sellent’s nuanced translation, spoken by three great actresses, under the vibrant direction of Josep Maria Mestres. In twenty years they have promised that there will be a replacement and the legacy will continue to live on. For now, starting October 12, in La Villarroel.
Catalan version, here
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