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1977.
Organisation
of various street performances in the village of El Pla de Santa
Maria (Tarragona) where a referendum was being held into changing
the names of the streets (Plaza Francisco Franco or calle Carrero
Blanco). The event ended up with the village divided just as in
the Civil War and the referendum was suspended. Pla de Santa Maria
was one of the last towns and villages to change the street names.
The
intention of the organisers was that we should represent in each
street a brief history of its old traditional name, but rather than
do this we chose to perform a ferocious parody of the names the
streets had at that time. Naturally the names were the same as everywhere
else: Francisco Franco, Carrero Blanco, José Antonio, General
Aranda, etc. The stage was set up on a trailer drawn by a tractor,
which moved through the village while the villagers followed. (...)
I still can’t understand how it was possible to finish the
acts without the Guàrdia Civil bursting onto the scene, for
the climax of this cathartic witches’ coven took place before
two thousand people in the Plaza del Generalísimo, where
an incredibly camp General Aranda conversed with "His Excremency",
who from out of his tomb gave demented instructions and complained
of the ingratitude of those ’yokels’ disposed to wipe
them off the map. At the end some figures danced joyfully with the
coffin of the dictator, to the rhythm of "Mi jaca galopa y
corta el viento...", while he was threatening to return.
Naturally the names could not be changed, because our intervention
re-ignited amongst the people of the village the hatreds of the
Civil War.
(Memòries d'un Bufó. Albert Boadella)
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Monsenyor
Antonio Mª Rouco, archbishop of Santiago de Compostela in 1987
did not like the work Teledeum (1983). Thus, we handed over to him
a cheque for 10,000 pesetas so he could buy a new censer. Mystifyingly,
he never cashed the cheque.
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Later, we sent a fridge to a critic, Sr Benach, because he said that
Bye, bye Beethoven was a very cold production. It was an
enormous, enormous fridge. So big that the concierge opened the door
to the house and we left it in the hall. When Benach discovered the
origin of the joke he wanted the Museu del Teatre to come and collect
the fridge. That was good.
La Vanguardia, 03/10/1987
Bye, Bye Beethoven in the fridge
The last 45 minutes of the show are, it seems to me, the
most successful, the most charming and also the best structured
minutes of an excessively cold work which unfolds in front of
the spectator without amusing (as in M-7 Catalònia),
without unnerving (as in Olympic Man Movement) and without the
fascinating breath of Mary d'Ous. Boadella has crammed his contaminating
Beethoven in a fridge.
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SEXGOLD
PARADISE OF TEMPTATIONS SEXGOLD
DISTINGUISHED AND DISCRETE
C/ Tuset, 1
209 42 13
Sr. Oriol Domingo:
Having tried unsuccessfully to contact you via the address and
telephone number you left in the clients’ index card of
our establishment, which on further checking correspond to a certain
Sr. Jordi Bonet, we have managed to discover through the efforts
of an information agency that you work for this newspaper.
Before taking the matter any further we are making one final effort
in order to convince you to settle the outstanding debt you have
with our establishment. The old trick of availing yourself of
the services of our young ladies and subsequently claiming to
have left your credit card at home you have resorted to repeatedly,
abusing in this way our trust and goodwill towards our clients.
No doubt you recognise that it is in your best interests to pay
off this debt promptly, for the treatment meted out by yourself
to the young ladies Raquel and Bea, could well be the subject
of criminal charges; for while ‘golden rain’ is one
thing, obliging them to keep their heads in the toilet bowl while
you defecate is quite another. You may rest assured that we are
in possession of documentary proof of this for we are a highly
professional company, who will not tolerate vexatious behaviour,
particularly in cases such as yours where no payment has been
made.
Once more we urge you to settle your outstanding debt. Otherwise
you may be quite sure that we shall take such step as we consider
opportune (judicial, naturally).
Sincerely,
Madame
Mamalú
| VISA |
EUROCARD |
AMERICAN
EXPRESS |
MASTERCARD |
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Vic,
4 de febrero de 1992
Sr. D. Luís Mª Ansón
Director de ABC
Madrid
Dear Sir.:
Deeply moved by the review which appeared in the newspaper you
edit, which dealt with our production "Yo tengo un tío
en América", we have decided to reproduce and distribute
it together with the programme to all those members of the public
who attend, since being qualified by the text as being mentally
ill they will swiftly appreciate the objectivity of your newspaper
and urgently seek medical treatment.
This literary piece, of great value, is undoubtedly one of the
best of those your publication has for many years now been bestowing
on us. For us these pieces have come to form an authentic literary
anthology, reaching, or almost, the heights of those dedicated
to us by the much mourned newspaper "El Alcázar",
(R.I.P.)
We would only like to express our desire that the writer Lorenzo
López Sancho enjoys many centuries of life for the greater
glory of Hispanic literature.
Sincerely,
Albert Boadella
Director de Els Joglars |
ABC, 03/02/1992
Boadella presents his most boring
outpouring in El Albéniz
(...) If with such resources his intention is to impress
and he achieves it, our compassion stirred by the draining away
of the always limited ingenuity of the mystifier and callow
scandal hunter that Boadella has always been must be transferred
to those few unhappy souls who cry out "bravo!" when
offered such an inept work. In short, "Yo tengo un tío
en América" is the most appalling piece of humbug
that Boadella, a specialist in humbug, has yet produced. The
boredom it provokes is only comparable to the fatigue engendered
by sitting through it. Inconceivable if it is not done under
obligation, the case of this reviewer, of for reasons of mental
illness, the case of those members of the audience who witnessed
the latest scandal-mongering defecation of this astute Catalan.
It is to be feared that most will simply be bored and only the
naive will be scandalised. Are there any left?
Lorenzo López Sancho
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The season of performances of Yo tengo un tío en América
at the Odeon Theatre in Paris turned out to be so unpleasant as a
result of the arrogant and bureaucratic treatment we received from
this institution that it subsequently inspired the creation of the
following production, El Nacional. However, before leaving
the theatre the company made its feelings clear in a message left
on the walls.
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The road that leads to Pruit is not too bad now. Very good in fact,
considering the state of the country as a whole. But it has not always
been thus. At one time it was more potholes than road. We lent our
voices to the protests of the council and the local residents, we
drew the matter to public attention, the usual things. Until one day
we got fed up. In fact it was one night. Out of papier mâché
we made some life-sized gravestones and inscribed on them the names
of the members of the Government of Catalunya. We phoned the TV stations
and they all came. Even TV3. On the gravestone of the Secretary General
of the Presidency of the time we added the name of his lover. When
the news, and especially this gravestone, appeared on TV, it certainly
had quite an effect.
1985. Earliest
protests about the deplorable state of the Vic-Olot road, the road
used by Els Joglars to get to La Cúpula and El
Llorà.
1989.
Second protest action about the state of the C-153 road between Vic
and Olot. 16 gravestones were installed bearing the names of the members
of the Government of the Generalitat and prominent political personalities
connected with Convergència i Unió (the governing party).
1990. Els
Joglars undertook a third protest, together with local residents, calling
for repairs to be made to the C-153 Vic-Olot road. A campaign of painted
slogans such as: "Roman Road", "Cart Track", "Danger!
Holes!", "Safer on Foot".
Finally the road was repaired and upgraded with the work being done
in 4 phases, and at a total cost of 53 million pesetas, by the Roads
Department of the Generalitat. More than sixty people attended the grand
supper organised by Els Joglars to celebrate the asphalting of the road.
All the guests were nominated Knights of the C-153 and received a medal
that represented a pothole.
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Els Joglars register the name of TEATRE NACIONAL DE CATALUNYA and
invite all Catalan theatre companies to become part. Support for the
action is quickly received from Comediants, La Cubana, La Fura dels
Baus, Dagoll-Dagom, Tricicle and others. This initiative aimed to
take the wind out of the sails of the project to build the Teatre
Nacional de Catalunya, to be directed by Josep Mª Flotats, promoted
by the Generalitat. In this way it set its face against the idea that
the artistic line to be followed in Catalunya should be that laid
down by the politicians.
Letter sent to the newspapers:
WE
ARE MORE SOLVENT THAN THE EXISTING GENERALITAT
In
recent times the frivolity of the political classes when dealing with
cultural matters has begun to produce indignation. Apart from putting
up with the arbitrary doling out of public resources in this area
we are also expected to sit back and watch the creation of prestige
projects, for the justification of which any banality will do so long
as it involves appearing in the media, the only reason the politicians
of today are interested in culture.
All of which is done with flagrant disregard for the real necessities,
most of which are obviously not so spectacular.
Today, the only contact between the cultural administrators and theatre
professionals is when they make us pass through the hoop, often in
a denigrating way, of begging for money, as if we were members of
the governing party; these bureaucrats have never understood that
in fact it is they who are supposed to serve us, and not the other
way around.
The so-called Teatre Nacional de Catalunya forms part of this initiative,
drowning beneath the astronomic sums of money bestowed on it and setting
out on the one hand to bring greater glory to its creators, and on
the other, to synthesise, to homogenise and to officialise Catalan
theatre or rather, one concept of theatre.
Els Joglars, as a clearly independent creative group, are not prepared
to sit back docilely and accept the brilliant ideas of our politicians
in the artistic realm. We do not want the future of the theatre in
this country to lie in the hands of a bunch of politically appointed
civil servants who, from their offices, will set out to interpret
the wishes of their megalomaniac bosses by dedicating themselves to
inventing generously funded initiatives that compete unfairly with
those funded by private initiatives, the only form of truly free creativity.
(...) Faced then with a new threat to monopolise Catalan theatre,
we believed it to be appropriate to register and occupy the name ‘Teatre
Nacional de Catalunya’, which will, from now on, accompany the
name ‘Els Joglars’. Our proposal is an open one and we
thus offer access to all those groups that create genuinely Catalan
theatre. The need, or not, for a National Theatre is doubtless open
for discussion, but faced with the possibility of the exclusive usurping
of the concept by the Government, we have decided to make our opinion
felt in a practical way.
Our proposal offers great advantages in comparison with the official
initiative: firstly, it is much more economic, since there is no need
to invest any money at all. It is also more secure since it can represent
the exact dimension of present day Catalan theatre. It is broader
given that many of the groups who might form part travel abroad, becoming
in this way true cultural ambassadors for Catalunya. It is a proposal
of proven solvency, at least in our case we have been running now
for 28 years, quite a few more than the Generalitat itself.
If the politicians, then, wish to construct a pharaonic edifice to
display their favourite artistic works, they should know that it will
not be called the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya, it will only be a
building; the Teatre Nacional will be all of us who produce Catalan
theatre.
Els
Joglars
Punt
(Girona) 8/11/1989
ELS
JOGLARS AND SEVEN OTHER GROUPS ADOPT THE NAME "TEATRE NACIONAL
DE CATALUNYA"
Albert Boadella says the initiative is a mini ‘coup d’êtat’
against the theatre policy of the Generalitat. He considers that the
Catalan national theatre is made up of all those groups that produce
original theatre in this country. Neither Xavier Bru de Sala nor Josep
M. Flotats wished to make any comment regarding the proposal presented
in Girona.
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Els Joglars renounce the National Theatre Prize 1994, worth 2,500,000
pesetas, for the creation and production of El Nacional,
because they consider that the recognition came too late.
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