Columbi lapsus is a clear reference to the phrase pronounced by Cardinal Marcinkus the day that John Paul I was elected Pope: "El colom empaitava les colometes de la Plaça de Sant Pere."(The pigeon has had his way with the little doves in St. Peter’s Square)
The play on the one hand follows the plot of the ‘Barber of Seville’, known to one and all, and on the other hand explains a court history, that of the Curia of the Vatican, and covers the period from the election of Pope John Paul I until his death, 33 days later.

COLUMBI LAPSUS With music from "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" by G. Rossini, Libreto by Els Joglars

Gioacchino Rossini creator of sentimental, emotional and profound musical airs gave his first performance of the opera The Barber of Seville, based on Beaumarchaise work, in 1816.
What the majority of people don't know is that Rossini composed this opera so that in the year 1989 a troupe of Catalan actors could take advantage of it for a different story, more appropriate maybe to the events of their era.
Apart from being the creator the composer knew that a great piece of work is the patrimony of humanity which, in order to be taken advantage of, is violated, prostituted or given, when convenient, a different meaning.
Rossini himself did this when he violated, in his time, The Barber by G. Passiello composed before his own work.
Of course it's not clear what Rossini thought of the Mafia, The Vatican Bank, the Theology of Freedom or the Pope-Mobile but it's easy to recognise his knowledge of intrigue, calamity, treason and the assassin, as he puts it to music majestically with none of the classic tragic and grandiloquent morbidity but rather with great irony, subtlety and a sense of humour.
Columbi Lapsus simply deals with following the score that Rossini left us.

(The events portrayed throughout the play are almost all real, and those which are not are surely surpassed by the reality.)

CAST AND PRODUCTION LIST

Actors

ELS JOGLARS
TEATRE NACIONAL DE CATALUNYA

Eduard Fernández	Ramon Fontserè	Jordi Purtí
Jesús Agelet	Josep M. Fontserè	Joan Serrats
Pilar Sáenz	Xevi Vilà	Montse Pérez

Production team