El Monstre

One early morning, seemingly like many others, Santi and Berta, unable to sleep, wake up and have a long conversation. Something is troubling them. It has been days. Weeks. Perhaps much longer. It has to do with who they are today and the small mountain village where they live. It also relates to the reappearance in their lives of someone who was called “the Monster” in the village after disappearing nearly twenty years ago, and one of the darkest and murkiest chapters that took place in this place of textile factories, eerie woods, and secondary roads.

El Monstre, through an ambitious formal and interpretive play, navigates through darkness, secrets, traditions, and violence of a small community. It questions us about the individual and collective need to create monsters and what lies hidden behind them. The text won the XXXII Premio Jardiel Poncela for theatrical texts and the XVIII Premio Quim Masó for theatrical projects in the Catalan language. Josep Maria Miró is the author of works such as La Majordoma, El cos més bonic que s’haurà trobat mai en aquest lloc (2022 National Award for Dramatic Literature, XLV Born Prize, and XXV Catalan Theatre Critics’ Awards), Temps salvatge (2018 Max Award), Nerium Park (Jaume Vidal i Alcover Award), and El principi d’Arquimedes (XXXVI Born Prize).