Ahead of the public announcement of the programme on 31 August, we present three international productions: J.W. Goethe’s Werther!, directed by German director Nicolas Stemann, António e Cleópatra by Portuguese artist Tiago Rodrigues, and Acceso, by Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín. These are three productions by directors who, until now, had never performed in the country.
Werther!, which will be seen for the first time in Spain, is the latest production by acclaimed German director Nicolas Stemann, in which he reclaims the figure of young Werther, the Romantic hero created by Goethe in the novel The Sorrows of Young Werther. Austrian actor Philip Hochmair, who, like Stemann, is visiting the festival for the first time, will star in this highly personal staging. A monologue brought into the present day, in which the German director tests the amorous obsession of Goethe’s Romanticism in the age of social media.
António e Cleópatra is another Spanish premiere. This time, the director is Tiago Rodrigues, a director, writer and actor at the forefront of the Portuguese stage, who is also making his festival debut. He will present a new creation based on Shakespeare’s classic. Taking the transgressive spirit of the protagonists as its main reference, the piece speaks of the couple as the centre of all dichotomies, through the eyes of the performers, dancers and choreographers Sofia Dias and Víctor Roriz. The Teatre de Salt will host this production on 26 November.
The final new addition to the international programme preview is the Catalan premiere of Acceso, by Chilean Pablo Larraín. In this show, the renowned filmmaker —winner of awards at Cannes and Berlin and nominated for an Oscar in 2013 for No— makes the leap from the big screen to the stage to present a monologue about Sandokan, a man obsessed with gaining “access” to society in order to stop being marginalised. It is a raw monologue with touches of humour, performed by fellow Chilean Roberto Farías.
