The Greeks only have one word for reality as we understand it today, a concept liberated from the myth, which, in fact, was imagined by the Romans. But the concept of reality is ductile, susceptible to change and malleable by the willpower of some men and women who want to control the material world. How do we bring to the stage the parallel, underground narrative that exists between material life and the impression of reality that accompanies our existence? Perhaps through “Una imatge interior” [An inner image], which relates fiction and materiality via a poetical exercise, using imagination as a radical alternative to fiction and images. With materials and words, the performers construct possible landscapes for the audience, halfway between what is tangible and what is fantasy, in order to expose, in a lyrical way, the effects of time, space and narratives on the body.
The production we will see at the 2022 Grec is the culmination of a process that started at the Santarcangelo Festival (Emilia Romagna) with Fracciones de tiempo, which featured an outdoor, evening screening of a text about dissimilarities between reality and fiction, and continued at the 2021 Barcelona Grec Festival with Ultraficción nr. 2 / Los buenos modales; at the Valencia Russafa Escénica Festival with Complicidad de materiales anónimos, where they worked with dramatic arts students, and finally at the last edition of the Sâlmon Festival in Barcelona, where we saw a series of architecture students building a large, contemporary totem in Ultraficción nr.4/Working Class.
The final piece of theUltraficciones series opens in May 2022, at the Wiener Festwochen, and it has been produced by the main European festivals and creation centres, including the Barcelona Grec Festival, the Festival d'Avignon, the Kunstenfestivaldesarts and the Festival d'Automne in París. And it's no wonder, because since they presented their first show in 2010 (La historia del rey vencido por el aburrimiento), the company has enthused audiences, critics and European programmers, who have closely followed the 10 shows they have created to date. These productions speak of time and 21st-century society, combining and at the same time separating text, movement and plastic images, while exploring the tensions between individuals and the group.
A coproduction from the 2022 Barcelona Grec Festival, Wiener Festwochen (Vienna), Festival d'Avignon, Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels), Centro Cultural Conde Duque (Madrid), Festival delle colline torinesi (Turin), Grütli - centre de diffusion et production des arts vivants (Geneva), Points communs - Nouvelle scène national de Cergy-Pointoise-Val d'Oise, Théâtre de la Villette (Paris) and Festival d'Automne (Paris).
With production assistance from the Government of Catalonia Catalan Institute of Cultural Enterprises.
With the support of Teatre El Musical in Valencia and Centro Párraga in Murcia.
Idea and creation: El Conde de Torrefiel, in collaboration with the performers, Director and playwright: Tanya Beyeler, Pablo Gisbert, Text: Pablo Gisbert, Performers: Gloria March Chulvi, Julian Hackenberg, Mauro Molina, David Mallols, Anaïs Doménech, Carmen Collado, Lighting design: Manoly Rubio García, Set design: Maria Alejandre and Estel Cristià, Set construction: Diego Sánchez, Los Reyes del Mambo, Isaac Torres, Miguel Pellejero, Sculptural pieces: Mireia Donat Melús, Robotics: José Brotons Pla, Machinery: Miguel Pellejero, Sound design: Rebecca Praga and Uriel Ireland, Technical design and coordination: Isaac Torres, Sound and video technician: Uriel Ireland, Lighting technician on tour: Roberto Baldinelli, Production and administration: Haizea Arrizabalaga, Executive producer: Cielo Drive SL, Distribution: Caravan Production, Brussels, Image: Javier Tortosa - Estudio Democracia, Photography: Werner Strouven
