Stories from History

PalmThere are no stories written in lowercase. All of them, regardless of their impact, contribute to the story written in uppercase, as can be seen in The architect, Performed at the Teatro del Mar, written by Josep Ramon Cerdà, directed by Rebeca del Fresno, and starring Xisco Segura, Miquel Àngel Torrens, Caterina Alorda, and Xen Garcinuño. A story within the history of this country, a brushstroke brimming with elements and countless corners and angles that, in some way, precisely depict the origins of who we are. A hypothetical conversation forms the backbone of the narrative, speculating on speculation, tourism and all its consequences, and modernization at any cost, against a mysterious backdrop that simultaneously lends substance to the story: the murder of one of the main protagonists, two renowned architects, one by name and the other by artist. With them, Cerdà weaves fiction from reality. A Pasolinian crime. forward the letter Unresolved, all shadow and without a single glimmer of light, it serves as a buttress for an entire ship that would become an immense, unattainable building, with the capparas of two ways of understanding a profession that is always sidelined. Ferragut was an exception and died in not so strange circumstances.

And if the argument is sufficiently stimulating—half document, half thriller—, with simple set design by Joan Miquel Artigues, Rebeca del Fresno manages to draw us, from the very first scene, into the mysterious and nebulous story with a clear depiction of a crime scene, a homicide whose perpetrators and motives remain unknown. All that remains is the grim and cruel outcome. From there, the story jumps through time with such precision that the narrative thread is never lost. So much so, that at a certain sublime moment, when Alomar sits before the police interrogating him, it simultaneously intersects with the questions posed by Ferragut, brilliantly and effectively playing with space and time. The backdrop is a large screen where images lend the necessary force to the text with extremely powerful close-ups or images that contextualize the story and provide essential documentation to ensure that the discourse, which is there, is perfectly understood.

As for the actors, they all found the perfect register for each moment, both Segura/Ferragut and Torrens/Alomar, perfectly supported by Alorda and Garcinuño in their respective roles. All of this is a journey to a past that gave rise to the present. On the other hand, the crime is a MacGuffin, lacking any real sensationalism, because what the story tells is... The architect It goes much further than that.