Jordi Bosch: "The centuries pass and Shakespeare continues to touch people's souls"

PalmaVenus and Adonis arrives for the first time in Mallorca, on August 13 and 14, eleven years after its premiere, with Jordi Bosch, Emma Vilarasau and the cellist Lluís Claret, hand in hand with the Fundació Mallorca Literària

“Shakespeare's greatness lies in the fact that it does not depend on trends or moments. It connects so deeply with the essence of the human being that it transcends time. His works and poems endure because they have no expiration date. It is as if he placed a small magnifying glass on the human soul, and that is the most beautiful thing about listening to him”. The actor Jordi Bosch speaks thus of the great English author, author of Venus and Adonis, the poem he performs alongside Emma Vilarasau, with the accompaniment of the “exquisite and extraordinary” music of the cellist Lluís Claret, who will perform fragments by Johann Sebastian Bach, François Couperin and Jean-Baptiste Barrière.

The show, which Bosch defines as a “very simple dramatized reading”, arrives for the first time in Mallorca, although it premiered at the Sant Cugat Poetry Festival in 2015. It can be seen on August 13 at the amphitheater of the Jardins de Na Batlessa, in Artà, and on August 14 in the garden of Casa Llorenç Villalonga, in Binissalem. The title is part of the programming of the festival La Lluna en Vers, of the Fundació Mallorca Literària.

Although it premiered eleven years ago, Bosch explains that they are resuming the piece “when schedules coincide”: “It is material that remains in repose and that we recover when we feel like it and our schedules allow it. Lluís spends half a year between Boston and Tokyo. When the calendars coincide, we take the opportunity to do it again because it is a piece that we like, that moves us, and that also moves the public”.

The story

Venus and Adonis was Shakespeare's most successful work during the author's lifetime. Written at a time when London theatres were closed due to plague epidemics, it was first published in 1593, when Shakespeare was 29 years old, and introduced the playwright as a poet. The plot is inspired by various passages from Ovid's Metamorphoses. It tells the story of Venus, the goddess of love, who falls in love with the very handsome Adonis. He, however, rejects her, showing little interest in Venus's advances, whom he pursues with the intention of convincing him, but there is no way to achieve it. Adonis is only interested in hunting. “And then the story ends as it ends, but I don't want to give spoilers. The most beautiful thing is the whole journey the characters take,” the actor points out.

For Bosch, the most beautiful thing about performing this poem is, simply, being able to recite it. “It's always a pleasure to be at the service of the great Shakespeare. The audience listens to a beautiful story that takes you through many different places. Shakespeare goes far beyond the specific narrative, because he speaks of universal things. The poem was a true best-seller in its time and continues to move people today because it deals with human essence, something that survives any fashion and any era. Centuries pass and it continues to touch people's souls.”

Reciting poetry, Bosch explains, “has its own rules, its code, and its own way of doing things.” Facing different materials “has its difficulty and requires a different way of working.” And high poetry, like Shakespeare's, is “demanding,” but at the same time very rewarding: “Poetry has a very special power because it makes us move away from everyday language. It's not a matter of elevating oneself or being intellectual; it simply speaks in a different way. It uses images that we don't use in daily conversation and, precisely because of this, it reaches the soul very directly. It touches an inner door that makes you think: “I've heard or thought this before, but I didn't know how to express it like this.”

This function is also special because, after performing it for more than a decade, the performers have made the text their own. “As you say the words, they end up becoming part of you. This helps you as an interpreter and makes what reaches the listener's ear much more alive and close.” In addition, there is the trust, complicity, and affection that exists between Bosch, Vilarasau, and Claret. “This is very noticeable to the spectator. When there is this complicity, all doors open. The atmosphere grows, the three of us add up, and the audience receives very beautiful material,” reflects Bosch.

According to the actor, this show “will last many more years” because “it doesn't expire” and because it is a “very simple proposal: the word is always in the foreground.” And also because doing Shakespeare always leaves you “wanting more.” “It happens with very few authors that, after working on them, what you feel like is returning to them again and again.”