julio manrique

Núria Espert, one of the most international and widely recognised theatre actresses in Catalonia, has taken on the role of Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear’ at the age of 79. This challenging project also means her return to the Catalan theatre scene after spending the last few years working on the Spanish stage. Lluís Pascual, the Director of the Catalan theatrical adaptation, justified the decision, stating “the best candidate to play King Lear was an actress, not an actor”. This Catalan version of ‘King Lear’ will be running until February 25^th at the Teatre Lliure in Barcelona.

After one year without the Shakespeare Festival, it has now returned. However, it will take place in a new place and with a new partner: La Perla 29, the theatre production company which is directed by Oriol Broggi. The festival will move from the coastal town of Mataró to Barcelona. The event will take place in spring 2013 in the Biblioteca de Catalunya (Catalonia’s National Library), in the city centre. As the event was unexpectedly cancelled last year, this new edition focuses on the adaptation of the festival to the economic crisis and aims to be projected to Europe and worldwide.