Time: the 1950s. A woman in a working-class neighbourhood on the outskirts of Barcelona leaves her house with a basket. After walking for a couple of hours, she enters some laboratories in the city’s uptown, where she listens to classical music and opera arias while she makes her “voluntary donation”. Hours later, back home, everyone will jump for joy when they see her return with the basket full of food. They won't say anything about the wounds on her arms. And so, they will grow up living in precarious circumstances, but with the gratitude that comes from having food on the table.
It all starts with this true anecdote from the author’s family. This is the story of a playwright determined to talk about family misery, the daughter of a poor cleaning woman and granddaughter of a woman who gnawed on misery. In short, this story asks whether a play can help settle a debt that is both personal and collective. Because revenge can be poetic license.
Nessun Dorma is the latest creation by Eu Manzanares, who made her debut as a playwright in 2015 with Una paret blau-cel. In 2019 she premiered Lo nuestro, which won the 2020 Barcelona Theatre Award for Best Original Text. In 2020, she received the Carme Mantoriol grant from the Barcelona Institute of Culture for El mestre i el mar. In 2021, her play Franky had its debut at the Teatre Lliure, and in 2022, she was given a Barcelona Crea grant to write a new piece. Thanks to the grant, she was able to put on Dopaland, a play about desire and consumer society, directed by Sergi Pompermayer, at the Sala Fènix.
Produced by the Sala Beckett and the 2023 Barcelona Grec Festival.
Barcelona Crea grant.
Accessible performance on 16 July, at 6 p.m.
Playwriting and direction: Eu Manzanares. Performers: Anna Barrachina, Pepo Blasco, Queralt Casasayas, Tai Fati, Júlia Truyol. Stage design: Laura Clos (Closca). Costume design: Zaida Crespo. Lighting design: Ganecha Gil. Sound: Guillem Rodríguez. Assistant director: Denise Duncan.
