‘Brave women’ jumps onto the scene
The Free Theater premieres brave womendirected by Glòria Balañà and Altimirawhich brings the journalist’s renowned book to the stage Txell Feixas Torras. The work, which has a shared dramaturgy by Balañà and Aina Turtalks about the struggle of several women against the patriarchal system in the Middle East and Asia.
The idea of bringing to the stage brave women it comes from the director herself, after reading the book of the same name by Feixas published in 2020. “I thought that those stories could be told in the theatre”, explains Balañà, who also highlights a personal motivation linked to the figure of her father who was an Arabist.
Glòria Balañà Altamira: “It is not the cry of one woman, but the cry of many women”
The creation process took almost a year of joint research by Balañà and Tur. The challenge has been to transform a journalistic text into the language of the performing arts, moving on the fine line between reality and fiction. Tur explains that one of the things that struck her about Feixas’ text was that it “breaks the silence of violence, but not from victimization but by focusing on women who overcome this violence”. For his part, Balañà remarks that “it is not the cry of one woman, but the cry of many women”.
brave women it is a process of immersion and learning about women who “despite everything that has happened to them, they have told their story and, despite having had a bad time, they want to remake themselves, they have fled places and faced a patriarchal system that is very violent psychologically, physically and sexually. I think it is important that the women of Brave Women are the protagonists of the materials we generate”, remarks Tur.
The author of the book, Txell Feixas Torras, National Journalism Award 2023, has accompanied the entire creative process, resolving doubts about the context and giving freedom to the creators to keep alive stories that are still fully valid and resonate strongly.
An essential cast for the project
Casting is an essential part of the project. Balañà was clear that it was necessary to have professional actresses with roots or ties to the Arab world like Marwa Bakhat, Agnes Jabbour, Manar Taljo i Moha Amazian. And also with Iria del Rio in the role of journalist.
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