Summer Theatre Festivals in Spain
Barcelona apartments and Badajoz apartments: Mérida Classical Theatre Festival and Grec Festival 2008 in Barcelona
Towns, gardens and historic locations undergo a summer transformation to host their annual theater festivals. This is the chance to enjoy the great classics in an unusual way: outdoors and in very special settings.
Mérida Classical Theatre Festival
A new edition of the prestigious Mérida Classical Theatre Festival will be held June-August in this historic town in the province of Badajoz.
The event is dedicated to theatre, and while the fundamental core of texts are of Greco-Latin origin, the festival is also open to the dramatic arts in general and includes music performances and a film season. One of the event’s main attractions is its stunning setting: the Roman amphitheatre and theatre that date from the end of the 1st century BC. This festival sees the theatre used for its original purpose once again.
The oldest Greco-Latin theatre Festival in Spain was born in 1933, that year the actress Margarita Xirgu performed the role of Medea written by Eurípides. The famous writer Miguel de Unamuno adapted the text for the representation, and Cipriano Rivas Cherif directed the performance.
Along those years, other artistic expressions such as Opera, Ballet, or Classical music have been added to the programme, all of them are related to the Greco-Latin world, the main feature of the festival.
Useful information
Mérida Classical Theatre Festival
Paseo de los Rosales, 7 06800 Mérida (Badajoz)
Tel. +34 924004930 +34 924009480 /Fax +34 924004931
Dates: 6/21/2008 - 8/30/2008
Grec Festival 2008
Barcelona celebrates the 32st edition of the Grec Festival, with a varied programme taking in theatre, dance, circus and music.
The performing arts are at the centre of this important cultural event. This year, special attention will be placed on the most innovative ideas, to attract new audiences, as well as shows for the whole family, with puppets and circus performances. Classical and contemporary, conventional and avant-garde, this festival is a point of reference where you can enjoy the work of the most up-to-date creators from close to.
Some of the plays:
Història del Soldat: Significantly, a fable has been chosen to open the 2008 Grec Festival: a contemporary reworking of Stravinsky’s Soldier’s Tale.
El Rei Lear: Over the last few months, laperla29 has explored a series of great works at the Library of Catalonia, including Uncle Vania, Hedda Gabler and The Man with the Flower in his Mouth. Now, in cooperation with the Grec Festival, this final challenge. To quote the play’s director, Oriol Broggi: “I wanted our Lear to be a feast for our senses and feelings, something important for our theatre and for our lives. And when I say “our”, I mean, of course, “your”.
Las Troyanas: The vanquisher will have no mercy on the vanquished. There will be no pity for the children of the survivors, nor respect for the fallen gods. The Trojan Women takes us to the last day of Troy, a defeated city, and tells the story of its women, condemned to fall into the arms of the victorious generals. Mario Gas directs this adaptation of a work in which women are the leading characters: Andromache, Hector’s widow; Hecuba, deposed queen of Troy; Cassandra, whose prophecies are ignored; Helen, over whom the war was fought…
Useful Information
Grec Festival 2008
Dates: 6/25/2008 - 8/3/2008
