Sopa de pollastre amb ordi

I lived through the events of October with a double anguish. One was collective: the one that, combined with enthusiasm and empowerment, made us dream that yes, this time we could, that the moment had come, that soon we would start building a new country. And one was individual, secret: the one that kept me awake at night wondering what this work with an improbable title that would premiere in a few months at the Library would explain to my people.

I had chosen it a year ago. I was moved to tears by the way Wesker describes the loss of political and individual convictions. It's becoming increasingly difficult for me to keep them strong, the ideals, and the faith I have in a better world doesn't always hold up when confronted with the contradictions of modernity. At the same time, I still believe that we must continue to believe that a fairer world is possible, and that we must continue to fight so that, little by little, this dream world becomes real. Perhaps that's why the play moved me so much: because it shows that time and life can erode this illusion... Without knowing exactly why, I thought it was necessary to stage it.

But autumn came and the story accelerated. In the revolutionary scenario that was opening up in the country, everything was changing! What kind of message did the play send? The parallels between the events described in the play and what we were experiencing were so great that suddenly I couldn't tell if the words of Chicken Soup were the warmth and vigor we needed to move forward or if, on the contrary, they generated discouragement. Because the responsibility of the artist also involves that, right? Generating reflection and energy from within, from militancy with life and politics, and not just from the distance of intellectuality!

It's 2018 and it feels like a long time since October. As I write these lines, a few weeks before the premiere, the new country has not arrived, and there are people imprisoned for their ideas. In prison! Faced with this reality so serious, terrible, and absurd that I can't help but denounce, everything becomes fragile. Like Wesker's characters, I am overcome by disorientation, and the idea that the play could send a clear message of encouragement or discouragement seems naive to me. Instead, I still believe that yes, it must be represented, and it must be represented now. And I think I know why: because theater, when it's real theater, can make us feel that we are not walking alone.

Break a leg.

Ferran Utzet