La visita de la vella dama

Teatre

informació obra


Dramatúrgia:
Jordi Palet i Puig
Traducció:
Jordi Vidal
Intèrprets:
Xavier Capdet, Jordi Farrés, Pep Farrés, Vicky Peña, Ireneu Tranis, Jordi Vidal (veu en off)
Interpretació musical:
Adrià Bonjoch, Pep Coca
Escenografia:
Xavier Erra
Vestuari:
Nídia Tusal
Il·luminació:
Jordi Llongueras
Assesoria de moviment:
Montse Colomer
Producció:
Temporada Alta 2017, Farrés Brothers i cia.
Autoria:
Sol Picó
Direcció:
Sol Picó
Sinopsi:

Vicky Peña és la Clara, una multimilionària que torna al seu poble natal disposada a enfrontar-se al seu passat: quan era jove va quedar embarassada i el seu enamorat en va negar la paternitat. Ara, més de quaranta anys més tard, té una mà de marbre, una cama de fusta i molta set de justícia o de venjança. La mítica companyia de teatre familiar, Farrés Brothers i cia, celebra 15 anys dalt dels escenaris endinsant-se en el tenebrós i adult univers de Friedrich Dürrenmatt. Ho fan, però, sense perdre la seva essència: amb un espectacle ple d’humor negre, cinc actors, dos músics i una pila de titelles. El seu primer espectacle per adults que s’estrena al Festival.

Crítica: La visita de la vella dama

30/01/2018

Deliciously creepy visual version of Friedrich Dürrenmat's dark parable

per Alx Phillips

Tragi-comedy La Visita de La Vella Dama (Der Besuch der Alten Dame) works great in this astute Catalan adaptation that uses creepy puppets as characters, the work of the inventive Farrés brothers. Written in the 1950s by the Swiss playwright Friedrich Dürrenmatt, The Visit is a deliciously disturbing parable that touches on themes prescient today: wronged women, past crimes and present justice, malignant conformism and moral cowardice.

The play tells the story of Claire Zachanassian, a billionairess who returns to her impoverished home village after a 50-year absence. She is royally welcomed on her return by citizens who once couldn't wait to get rid of her. They are hoping for a cash hand out to save the village. Yet the crocodile-like Claire offers them a sinister deal: a million in cash in exchange for the life of the man who disgraced her. Vicky Peña is super as the flame-haired Zachanassian, a despicable yet very likeable figure, which Dürrenmatt describes as "something like Medea". "[She] has a sense of humour ... a rare grace ... a wicked charm" he insisted - all of which Peña has, plus a few things of her own! The accused, a man called Ill (Capdet) is an amiable family man with a none-the-wiser expression. He makes such an unlikely former lover of Zachnassian that it certainly says something about the power of the patriarchy.

Dürrenmat's text, loaded with irony, is simply written yet deceptively intelligent. In conversation with the conventions of Greek tragedy, while the chorus at the end is cut in this version, and the visual elements inevitably upstage the spoken word favoured by the Greeks, the Catalan La Visita retains the universality of the characters and honours the play's light / dark tones. Shifting between sharp satire and stagey melodrama and between puppets and people provides an interesting challenge for the sympathies of the audience. Unpack the outrage and the absurdity and within find an even more macabre truth.