“There is nothing more than a truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide,” he wrote in his essay The myth of Sisyphus Published in 1942. The 1958 Nobel Prize for Literature would confess years later, that the theater scenarios were for him “true universities” and one of the places where he felt happier. Almost 70 years later, the theater company Les Heyvan – formed by seven young people from Barcelona between 18 and 25 years old – and has decided to plant it in the tables of the theater stages by the hand of the hand of Iceberg. The work, which won the premiere ~ Territori 2023 award, will be available on April 23 at the Tantarantana Theater in the Catalan capital and can be seen until May 11.
Despite her youth, the interpreters Laura Torrades, Luana Rocha, Carmen Domínguez, Alba Perramon, Mariona Muñoz, Sofia Grigorieva and Marta Pastallé, have made theater together for more than eight years. They started in the school dining room, as an extracurricular activity, under the direction of Carla Abulí. They were developing their passion for performing arts with performances for their classmates and family members, until they finally decided that it was time to write the script of a work. “It was a group of girls with a lot of talent and two years ago we began to get ideas among all. There were several songs and we wrote the script of Iceberg”, Explains Abulí, who now serves as director of the company founded two years ago.
Las Heyvan began with presentations in front of his own classmates, but the turning point came four years ago, when they attended a play made by some Chilean young people who. From that moment they were clear that the company would have the purpose of denouncing the problems that were affecting its generation. “We felt that the theater was a bit old, that it was not made for young people like us and we wanted to do something for people to get hooked,” explains Luana, one of the company’s members.
Each contributed ideas from their own experiences and in 2023 they decided to participate in the theater promotion program Premiere in the territorywhich gives an award to a piece made by emerging theater companies in Catalonia. “When we received the call that we had won the award we could not believe it.” The award was an important push for the group to go from being a company amateur to a professional. After the recognition, scenarios such as the Trono room of Tarragona, the Planeta de Girona room or the RBLS Festival of Barcelona opened the doors. When they received the award, some of the young women were only 15 years old. “We have always done theater together and we do professional theater,” says one of them.
The authors opted for “a very modern and unconventional narrative that mixes: text, contemporary dance, techno music and projections”, to break with the formalities of traditional theater. In addition to suicide, issues related to mental health, eating disorders, machismo, social networks, aesthetic pressure, sexual violence or pedophilia are discussed. The creative process of the work has not meant a quiet path for its authors. “There are some scenes, especially those of sexual abuse, which are very difficult to interpret,” explain Laura and Luana. For both it was very hard to interpret their parents scenes that represent a rape or sexual abuse, “but in the end there is a mechanization process,” they explain. The company plans to continue working the theme of suicide. “There is the belief that if you talk about suicide there is a rebound effect, but we believe it is important to tell and get these problems in light,” says the director.
The work is divided by “scenes” and “thematic blocks” in which the characters go on stage with a neutral costume to represent “a kind of avatars of the society in which we live.” In one of the blocks you can see a clock with a regressive count that denounces that every 11 minutes a person in the world is committed suicide. One of the most shocking scenes shows young women dancing around a giant cardboard penis, while insulting figures such as Rubiales, Piqué or Dani Alves. “Several members have lived difficult moments and suicide is just the tip of the Iceberg”, Says Abulí, who exercises the direction from the foundation of the group together with Andrea Labena and Genís Lama. They complete the Marina Orriols and Noa Bieto team as part of the artistic team.
Since its premiere, Iceberg It has had very diverse reactions by the public. A part of the attendees are visibly excited, while another manifests a certain rejection of the way of acting and presenting hard issues on stage. “It has happened to us from having young people who cry a lot during the function, but also parents who tell us that they will see the work again with their daughters and sons, in short we treat generational problems,” explains Abulí, who has come to see several older people among the public. In the different representations they also noticed a certain rejection, especially of young boys. “Many young people who could have felt threatened,” in their view.
