Catalonia’s Shakespeare Festival returns after its cancellation in 2011 due to the crisis

Barcelona (ACN).- Last year the economic crisis caused the unexpected cancellation of the Shakespeare Festival by Mataró’s Town Hall, the Catalan coastal city where it used to take place. For its tenth edition, the event restarts with a new location and a new partner: the theatre production company which is directed by Oriol Broggi, La Perla 29. The event will take place in spring 2013 in the heart of Barcelona, in the Biblioteca de Catalunya (Catalonia’s National Library). The festival will have two new artistic advisors: Broggi and Julio Manrique, Artistic Director of the Romea Theatre. Montse Vellvehí continues as the Festival’s Artistic Director. In this new edition, adaptation to the economic crisis is a key aspect and the festival aims to be projected to Europe and worldwide.

The Shakespeare Festival of Catalonia, which is part of the European network of Shakespeare festivals, returns in 2013 and will be held in Barcelona for the first time. For its tenth edition, the event will take place in the central neighbourhood of Raval. Last year in 2011, the festival was unexpectedly cancelled by the City Council of Mataró, where this event devoted to the English playwright used to take place.

In the current context of economic crisis, the Shakespeare Festival has set up a partnership with the theatre production company La Perla 29 in their headquarters, the Gothic nave of Biblioteca de Catalunya. Moreover, the company’s Director, Oriol Broggi, is now the co-artistic advisor of the event, a task that he will share with the Artistic Director of the Romea Theatre, Julio Manrique.

The festival has also been supported by the City Council of Barcelona, the Catalan Government and other cultural agents of Raval’s neighbourhood such as the CCCB, Liceu Conservatory of Music, or the book shop La Central.

Since 2010, the Catalan Shakespeare’s Festival is part of the European network of Shakespeare’s festivals and is a cultural festival, not a theatrical one, which welcomes all languages and disciplines.