We’re drawing the curtain on the 34th edition of Temporada Alta, which also marks the end of the first year with Narcís Puig at the helm of the festival’s artistic direction. Over 12 weeks, the festival has shown a consolidation of the project and a strengthening of its main pillars, reaching a total of 52,993 attendees, including spectators (46,909), participants in the A Tempo project (4,533) and attendees at complementary activities (1,551).
In addition, it is worth highlighting that across the 144 performances of the 91 shows, the festival achieved an average occupancy rate of 90.79%, and 33 shows sold out for all or some of their performances.
Support for creation has been one of the edition’s standout pillars, with productions promoted directly by the festival such as Ai! La misèria ens farà feliços, by Gabriel Calderón—premiered to great success at Temporada Alta and currently running at Teatre Lliure—or Angélica Liddell’s new work, SEPPUKU. EL FUNERAL DE MISHIMA o el placer de morir, both pointing to a long journey at home and abroad.
Alongside these major productions, the festival has also supported more modest proposals that began their path in Girona, such as ABECEDARI, by La Moukhles & Sentís, which helps consolidate emerging artists, Cèl·lula #6: Faula, by Roser López Espinosa, or Bach – Dostoevsky – Messiaen, with Lluís Homar and the Piano Duo Brugalla & Stambolov.
On the international front, the festival programmed 16 productions from 13 countries, with highlights including Thomas Ostermeier’s Hamlet, Christoph Marthaler’s Le Sommet, and Miet Warlop’s Inhale Delirium Exhale. To these names we can also add The Hague, a production written by Sasha Denisova and directed by Galin Stoev, as well as Cirque Éloize’s ID EVOLUTION, among others.
One of the edition’s strongest points has once again been Big Bang, the festival’s professional weekend, which this year brought together 106 international professionals in Girona and Salt. The gathering has reinforced Temporada Alta’s role as a platform for internationalisation, with conversations already under way so that shows such as Gola, Cèl·lula #6: Faula or Manual para seres vivos can tour on international circuits. This momentum is further strengthened by the festival’s participation in networks such as Pyrenart II and Prospero New, which have enabled—and will continue to enable—tours and concrete opportunities for companies from the country.
As for the national programme, Temporada Alta continues to strongly back production and co-production—one of the festival’s most important lines of work—which helps generate projects for companies from within the country and abroad. In this 34th edition, the festival programmed 22 in-house productions or co-productions, 20 of which have a confirmed tour or run in theatres after their stop in Girona. This is made possible thanks to ongoing collaboration with companies, producers and venues both in the country and internationally.
