We have opened a parenthesis in time to gather around a shared language: Shakespeare. During the three days of the Shakespeare Festival-Prelude Edition, programmers from across Europe — Italy, Ukraine, Romania, Poland, the United Kingdom, Turkey and beyond — have visited us, and we have shared a stage, reflections, and questions: What kind of Shakespeare do we want today? How does he speak to us in this turbulent present? What do we make of him from each culture?
There are many moments that will stay with us: a conversation, an exchange, a gesture. We remember the dialogue between Oriol Broggi and Irina Brook, sharing their vision of Shakespeare shaped by redemption, imagination, and freedom. The meeting between Andrea Jiménez and Iryna Chuzhynova, moderated by Cristina Genebat, and the words on the world that Shakespeare has drawn for us, and the war, resonated with the power of a voice that has lived it. The opportunity to discover first-hand the European Shakespeare Festivals Network (ESFN). Asking ourselves about Shakespeare and tyranny with Andreu Jaume, Isabel Guerrero, Jordi Coca and Albert Reverendo. We’ve had the chance to present our A Macbeth Song, and shared amazing conversations and feedback at the bar of Teatre La Biblioteca... And also the surprise of discovering Hamlet Double Bill, finalist of Shakesphere 2024, which proposes two journeys through this great Shakespearean tragedy: first through all its comic moments, then through its tragic line.
A special thank you to the audience who chose to take part in this edition. Curious, vibrant spectators, always eager to discover more, to live more, to be more and more present. Your participation has been crucial. Experiencing this together means a great deal to us, we are deeply grateful to begin new adventures by your side.
We hold especially dear the working table with city theatres and companies, international programmers and directors, and public institutions who joined us in a two-hour session to imagine the Festival together. It was a highly fruitful meeting, where ideas emerged that we are eager to bring to life. We’ll tell you more in a separate piece, because this meeting deserves special attention.
This has only been the beginning. With this Prelude Edition, the Shakespeare Festival Barcelona has taken its first steps towards becoming a biennial theatrical meeting. We have laid the foundations for the festival’s future, establishing it as a space for dialogue, innovation, and international collaboration. We aim to provide Barcelona with a new hub for theatrical creation and presentation with a European scope, building on Shakespeare’s legacy and forging partnerships with local players as well as international festivals and theatres. Because Shakespeare is precisely that: a meeting ground, a shared playing field where cultures engage in dialogue and where theatre, always alive, takes us further.
