Gemma Camps (Palma, 1994) will fulfill a dream on April 24 and 25. Or close a circle. Or both at the same time. It will be then when she returns to the Teatre Principal in Palma, where she says she fell in love with opera. Now, with the commission to direct one. “I perfectly remember the first one I saw there, sitting in the stalls at 15 years old. It was La Bohème, and I knew immediately that I wanted to dedicate myself to this,” she admits. Sixteen years later, she will be in charge of the musical direction of La veu humana, a production that is part of the 40th edition of the Principal's Opera Season. With stage direction by Roberto G. Alonso and Marga Cloquell as soprano, it is expected to be one of the premieres of the season. It certainly will be for Camps, who at 31 years old has become one of the prominent figures in musical direction, a field where even now women, and much more so young women, are an exception. According to the most comprehensive study to date on this issue, by the SGAE Foundation, women directors did not reach 8% in 2019.

It must not have been easy at all to choose a couple of plays with which to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of a theatre company of such relevance as Iguana Teatre. A group that is not history, I would say it is "the history" of contemporary theatre in the Islands, for the simple reason that they were the ones who paved the way for many others to begin their journey. They have chosen Sa varietat de sa locura to commemorate the event together with the Teatre Principal. A piece that perhaps is not the most representative of their style, it could have been many others among the more than fifty they have put on stage, but, on the other hand, it is irrefutable proof of their versatility, of this habit of moving through all levels of theatre, from the classics to the most avant-garde, from an investigative perspective, with their always inquiring and respectfully groundbreaking seal, which is what led them to this series of interludes that make up such a peculiar show.

There are texts that do not age because, in reality, they have never stopped speaking to us and they transcend time because they point out what societies prefer not to see. An Enemy of the People, by Henrik Ibsen, is a striking example. The free adaptation by José Martret, premiered at the Teatre Principal de Palma, not only updates this work but projects it with an unsettling force onto the present and confirms its relevance with a directness that challenges us.

There are texts that do not age because, in reality, they have never stopped speaking to us and they transcend time because they point to what societies prefer not to see. An Enemy of the People, by Henrik Ibsen, is a powerful example. The free adaptation by José Martret, premiered at the Teatre Principal de Palma, not only updates this play but projects it with an unsettling force onto the present and confirms its relevance with a directness that challenges us.

It was formerly called the House of Comedies, and the current building was constructed in the 19th century. But Palma's Principal Theatre stands on the same site where performances were already taking place in the 17th century. For 359 years, comedies have been staged in the same location, next to the former stream that gives its name to the street where it is located. As we approach World Theatre Day, as we do every March 27th, we explore the history of this stage.

Der fliegende Holländer, by Richard Wagner, at the Principal Theater. Impossible!, many of us thought. My faultDifficult, no doubt, but good work and sound judgment prevailed. This isn't a spoiler. It was a success, with a full house, and ohne irrtum —without error— as the composer would say, and surely if he didn't say it, he at least thought it. Everything worked perfectly. Nothing disappointed, and perhaps that remarkable balance achieved was the best and most essential of the many virtues the show possesses. The circle might have been smaller than usual, for obvious reasons, but it was undoubtedly a perfect one. A fact that was already clear from the very first agreements of theOpening, With the imposing brass announcing the stormy tragedy, the Balearic Islands Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Guillermo Garcia-Calvo, for whom Wagner holds far fewer secrets than for the vast majority of conductors, having so thoroughly captured the essence of Bayreuth, thus fulfilling this initial requirement regarding the size of the orchestra, which sounded powerful and expansive, as well as rich in textures and impeccably clear.

If I had to choose just one play, I'm sure it would be Cyrano de Bergerac, Edmond Rostand's play, which I'm almost certain is the one I've seen adapted the most times in my life. Seeing it advertised at the Teatro Principal in Ciudad, with Salvador Oliva's adaptation by the company La Impaciencia—founded by Rodo Gener, Salvador Oliva, and Xavi Núñez, and directed by Luis Venegas—evokes at least two opposing feelings. On the one hand, the enjoyment of being able to see and hear the words, adventures, and misadventures of someone whom it's impossible not to admire, envy, and never even come close to. On the other, I confess, the doubt of how far this daring group can go with only three actors and four wooden boxes as scenery in just an hour and a half of performance.

An event. Simón Orfila was Scarpia, following in the footsteps of Joan Pons. It's not a dispute. There's no competition, although operatic comparisons are a constant, as common as they are lacking in rigor. What happened this time is simply a fine tribute to his fellow countryman, undoubtedly one of the best Scarpias in history. Therefore, a day to remember and write down in bold: Tosca inaugurates the 40th Opera Season at the Teatro Principal, and Simón Orfila made his debut as Scarpia. The rest is pure anecdote, of course, with many other elements worthy of mention. Yolanda Auyanet's Floria Tosca displayed a high and clear register, breath and color, with which her interpretation of the famous Art Visa, A marginal note at the request of Maria Jeritza, can only be described as remarkable. An aria, transformed into a pivotal moment of the greatest, which arises just before the story's climax, with the death of the perfidious, in addition to all the derogatory adjectives one might want to add, Baro Scarpia. He is the great character of the story that Victorien Sardou wrote for Sarah Bernhardt and of whom Orfila has given a more elegant reading than usual, but no less efficient. Rame Lahaj, for his part, was dramatically an adequate Caravadossi, with a robust voice but a limited projection, even strange.

Palma's Teatro Principal hosted the opening ceremony of the 16th edition of the Palma 2025 Mountain Film Festival, with the presence of Guillem Ginard, Island Director of Culture for the Mallorca Council, and Bartomeu Tomàs, Festival Director.