Ricard Salvat, theater man / Exhibitions / Visit us / Home
Ricard Salvat i Ferré (Tortosa, 1934-Barcelona, 2009) is recognized for various aspects of his intellectual life: he was professor of Performing Arts at the University of Barcelona, lecturer and writer – awarded the Joanot Martorell prize in 1959 with the novel Law breaking animalspublished in 1965 under the title north beyond; but, above all, what defines him best is his love and dedication to the theater.
In 1953, while studying Philosophy and Letters at the University of Barcelona, Salvat founded the Agrupació de Teatre Experimental (ATE), from where he directed productions of works by Catalan authors: Josep Maria de Sagarra, Victor Català or Alexandre Cirici Pellicer; and foreigners: Eugene O’Neill or Richard Hughes. Later on, he made two trips that would be a turning point in his life and intellectual career: in the 1956-1957 academic year he went to Germany to expand his studies and became deeply interested in the figure of the playwright Bertolt Brecht and the epic theater, which influenced him forever more in his conception of the theater; and in 1968 he went to Coimbra (Portugal) to direct a university theater company, and to teach a theoretical course in which he explained what he had learned in Germany.
The creation of the School of Dramatic Art Adrià Gual (EADAG) in 1960 was the result of the collaboration between Ricard Salvat and Maria Aurèlia Capmany, and established its headquarters in the legendary Cúpula del Coliseum, where the Promotion of Decorative Arts (FAD) was located. From 1966, the Company Adrià Gual was born.
Between 1960 and 1974, EADAG presented more than a hundred productions, among which the premiere of Death round in Sinera at the Romea Theatre, in 1965, a show conceived by Salvador Espriu and Ricard Salvat, and which has become a key piece of 20th century Catalan theatre.
Between 1977 and 1986 Ricard Salvat was the director of the Sitges Theater Festival, which was renamed the Sitges International Festival under his direction. Later, from 1993 he presided over the Associació d’Investigació i Experimentació Theatral (AIET), an organization with which he also realized and produced some productions.
In total, between 1953 and 2008, Ricard Salvat directed one hundred and seventy-seven theater shows and produced more than one hundred and ninety. In his abundant theatrical activity, he counted on the collaboration of renowned artists for the sets, posters and figurines, such as Albert Ràfols-Casamada, Maria Girona, Fabià Puigserver or Isaac Díaz Pardo.
This exhibition shows the relationship between Ricard Salvat and the theater through some of the documents that, by the will of the family, are part of the Ricard Salvat Fund of the Biblioteca de Catalunya. From the graphic background, original drawings of the figures of many of the theater plays that Salvat directed and produced throughout his career, original drawings and printed posters of the plays that were presented at the Sitges Theater Festival, or drawings of some of the scenographies of the productions that Salvat made with the companies he founded. From the audiovisual and sound collection, recordings of performances, rehearsals, interviews, conferences, tributes in various media: reels, cassettes, CDs, DVDs, VHS… And documents from other collections that have helped to complete the portrait of Ricard Salvat as a theater man.
