Jordi Bosch: “I would like to direct to put into practice everything I have learned”

Just take a look at the documented webpage of Jordi Bosch To appreciate the dimension of the actor of Mataró, one of the greats of Catalan theater. At the age of 68 and after four decades of profession, he doses a little more, he says, but returns to the foreground with Death of a comedian. The piece of William Clua Season, after premiering at the Temporada Alta Festival, at the Teatre Romea under the direction of Josep Maria Mestres and with Mercè Pons and Francesc Marginet completing the cast.

Jordi Bosch

Barcelona Theater: We talk a little, without making spice, about Death of a comedian.

Jordi Bosch: Be careful, because the audience has to discover things, as always. It is a tribute to the theater based on the relationship of an already retired actor with his caregiver. A friendship is woven from the history of theater.

Is there also room for the work for this comic visa so wide?

We can say that it is a tragicomedy, but it is a kind of living space that has moments of everything, with situations to smile, others of madness and also more dramatic. And Guillem Clua knows how to touch these situations. He knows how to get very well to emotions and without any stench.

‘Death of a comedian’

He had already worked with Josep Maria Mestres as director. And with Mercè Pons?

We have been with Josep Maria for many years, but with La Mercè we had not coincided. With Francis I did Were all my childrenmy previous work.

Which, by the way, had great success in the free.

Yes, I remember it as a great montage, a large work, of those that maintain the validity over time. Then I took a quieter time, I am old and I wanted to take it calmly. In addition, he came from doing Golfus of Romewhich was also an important move to me.

“My excitement was to be a doctor, but he ended up winning the theater”

We now look back, far back, at the beginning of a young man from Mataró who started his medical career.

It all started when I was 14 years old in the Cabanyes Room in Mataró with The shepherds. My excitement was to be a doctor, but I ended up winning the theater and I hooked it.

From Mataró they are also actors such as Joan Pera and Boris Ruiz. Did you know them?

With Joan Pera he had no relationship, because he is older, but with Boris, yes. We are friends and I have been able to do theater in Barcelona thanks to him.

What do you mean?

When I finished the military, he was already working in Barcelona and he spoke very well about me, he said he had a friend who was very good. And so I set foot in professional theater.

Jordi Bosch and Anna Lizaran, in the Free of Gràcia © Josep Ros Ribas. Teatre Lliure (The Free Archive of the Theater)

The definitive leap came with the entrance to the Free, where, in fact, it was formed as an actor.

And so much! I entered in 1983, when I was 25 years old. Imagine what emotion! It was spectacular. Then I was fortunate enough to stay with great teachers in the theater for many years. I still feel at home.

Which director of that time had the most connection with? Lluís Pasqual?

Yes, with Lluís I have been fortunate enough to work in a lot of assemblies and he has been a director I have learned a lot.

A versatile actor, he has shone in drama, comedy and even musical, and prominent by his great comic view …

I am of those who think that there is always room for irony, for the sense of humor. I have always liked to make jokes in any situation. Irony can become a comic vis and I have always liked the actors who practice it.

Jordi Bosch at the spamalot musical (2019)

Have you had references in this facet or is it a natural thing?

I am a lover of the Tricyclefor example, how they were able to make people laugh without opening their mouths. I also really liked the Monty Python and, for me, do Spamalot It was a gift.

Despite the challenge that involved doing a musical …

I always liked to sing and, in my character, it was enough to fine -tune. It was enough, though it is true that I will never be able to do The miserable. With Golfus of Rome The same thing happened a bit.

Is there any role or character that is pending? Some of Shakespeare, like King Lear, for example?

Shakespeare always makes us thyine to the actors. But I still have to be able to make King Lear.

Despite your experience?

You have to be 75 years of age or older. The greater, the better. I think you have to see an actor at the end of life, especially in the last act. The path that grabs when Lear goes crazy makes you a knot in your heart. You have to see a person of a certain age to get you. If we remember, Laurence Olivier did it also at the end of his career, as Ian McKellen. Or Núria Espert with Lluís Pasqual.

“I really like poetry and I would also like to direct a theatrical text”

What he has never done is to direct, apart from the Sant Cugat Poetry Festival. Did you not consider it?

That’s right. I really like poetry and I would also like to direct a theatrical text to see this polyhedral job from different points of view.

Surely the direction of actors would not cost him.

Exactly. I would like to put into practice everything I learned, that more practical part of the stage. As always, it is about finding a suitable project to do.

And now he returns to Romea, one of his theatrical houses. Is something special perceived in such an illustrious scenario?

There is a lot of acting energy in Romea. In theaters with so much history, you are perceived at some point, notes that there is something warm.