A musical myth of Persephone illustrates the rebirth of Catalan troupe Comediants

Barcelona (ACN).- The Catalan theatre group Comediants has chosen death as the main theme for their latest production, the musical ‘Persèfone (variacions mortals)’ – ‘Persephone (mortal variations)’. Faithful to some of the elements that have characterised the group’s trajectory, this musical encourages the audience to travel along the line that separates life and death and includes extravagant characters and fears. Comediants have based their new show on the Greek myth of Persephone, daughter of Zeus and Demeter, who was forced to marry Hades and become goddess of the underworld. Persephone is the cornerstone for a spectacle that “closes a chapter” for the theatre group, explained Joan Font, Director of Comediants since its creation in 1972. The musical premieres on Thursday December 15^th at the Teatre Lliure de Montjuïc in Barcelona and will run until January 8^th. Catalan musical actress Àngels Gonyalons plays the leading role.

“Persèfone is an indescribable spectacle and it will not leave anybody with a feeling of indifference”, said actress Àngels Gonyalons. Gonyalons, who gives life to the strong, powerful and attractive Persephone, describes the show as “very Latin and Mediterranean, which is Comediants’ style including songs performed live”. The Director of Comediants explained that the troupe had never dedicated a play to death until now. Font stressed that they had up until now focussed on “generic or emotional spectacles about the day or night, energy, the sun, dreams, solitude or love”. But he noted that the group has grown up and they have decided to close “a chapter involving that type of show and talk about death”. “Persèfone is a song about death but also about life because death cannot exist without life”, stated the Director of the theatre group.

The play marks the end of 39 years of Comediants, added Font. “Let us see where this new rebirth takes us after having talked about death as a way of rebirth and a return to optimism, life, and creation”.

A musical structured around five “flashes”

Persèfone (variacions mortals), a play created by Comediants, is directed by Joan Font and actors Gonyalons, Jordi Llordella, Laia Oliveras, Laia Piró, Marc Pujol and Ramon Claduch (musician) play the various different roles. The musical has a five part structure: the rite of death, which focuses on everything the living do to face death (the funeral, the tributes and the burial); death and beyond, with the body decomposing and the trip to the realm of the dead; the death is fair (or not) with different deaths that take place anytime and anywhere in the world; the allies of death with the factors involved in death; and life, without which death cannot be.

A “Mediterranean” musical

Inspired by the music hall and varietés styles, Comediants have created a story “with flashes, images and music” because “we did not want a dramatic theme”, stated Font. This is the first time Comediants puts on a musical, added the Director of the group, though it is not an Anglo-Saxon musical but a Mediterranean one, “a musical show where they sing, they dance and there is poetry”.

Persèfone benefits from this fragmented structure to portray scenic pictures because “there is no chronological order” and continuously refers to the troupe’s characteristic language based on text, visual theatre, dance, music and masks –“an aesthetic and dramatic element” -.

The slight change in Comediants’ 40 year trajectory

“We will see a slightly different Comediants compared to what we were used to. The images, the taste for impacts and baroque will be there but in others, there will be the opposite”, stressed Font. The Catalan group believes it is now time to make space for the new generation to see the “theatre of senses” by Comediants. Font said it is necessary to establish “new rules for young people who have their own language and not through ours so that both languages coexist”.

Comediants’ festive spirit

The “festive spirit” of Comediants has been responsible in the past for big productions such as the closing ceremony of the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992, which caused a great impact and was copied around the world thanks to its originality and beauty. However, Comediants’ new stage, after 39 years of performances, does not plan to loose its provocative edge.