- Joglars, Els
- It was Els Joglars who first put Catalan performance groups on the international map. Els Joglars were formed in 1962, and since 1966 have been led by the charismatic Albert Boadella. Like other performance groups and exponents of the Nova Cançó, Els Joglars took a radically anti-Francoist stance in their earlier work. Ironically, they had greater problems with censorship after the death of Franco than during Francoism. In 1977, when censorship was apparently over, Els Joglars performed their satire against torture, La torna (Left Overs), which was a homage to Salvador Puig Antich, the anarchist executed by the Francoist government in 1974. The production caused the imprisonment of some members of the group (including Albert Boadella) and the enforced exile of others. The resultant protests, both inside and outside theatrical circles all over Spain, were part of a wider struggle to establish normality in the wake of Francoism. Some of Els Joglars" shows have caused offence amongst conservative sections of Spanish society. An example is Teledeum, which provoked widespread protest because of its satirical treatment of the Catholic Church. Although they have asserted Catalan national identity in their work, Els Joglars have also attacked and offended conservative Catalan nationalists.Els Joglars have been innovative in technical as well as in socio-political questions. They included mime in a number of their early shows. European and American performance groups were influential in this respect, but it was also a way of circumventing the limitations imposed by censorship. Gesture and physical movement are an integral part of Boadella's conception of the actor's art, and, like Grotowsky and others, he makes huge physical demands upon his actors. Music has also been included in Els Joglars" shows, as in Mary d'Ous (Egg Mary), which was constructed like a musical canon. In the 1970s, Els Joglars worked closely with the innovative Catalan set designers Iago Pericot and Fabià Puigserver. The latter was responsible for the sets of Alias Serrallonga and M-7 Catalònia. Like other Catalan performance groups, including El Tricicle and La Cubana, Els Joglars have worked in television. Among their shows is a parody of the documentary genre for TV3 (Catalan Television) entitled Som una meravella (We Are Simply Marvellous). Their Ya semos europeos (sic) (Now, Let's Be European) is a similar series for Spanish television.Further reading- Ayesa, G. (1978) Joglars, una història, Barcelona: La Gaya Ciencia (a history of the early years of the group).- Bartomeus, A. (d.) (1987) Mester de joglaria: Els Joglars 25 anys, Barcelona: Edicions 62.- Boadella, A. (1985) Els Joglars, 23 años, mayoría de edad, Madrid: Centro de Documentación Teatral (evaluation by the founder of the group).- Saumell, M. (1996) " Performance Groups in Catalonia", in D.George and J.London (eds) An Introduction to Contemporary Catalan Theatre, Sheffield: Anglo-Catalan Society (the only fulllength study of the phenomenon in English).DAVID GEORGE
Encyclopedia of contemporary Spanish culture. 2013.
