{"id":624,"date":"2020-05-24T07:40:25","date_gmt":"2020-05-24T07:40:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/?p=624"},"modified":"2022-11-23T20:07:28","modified_gmt":"2022-11-23T20:07:28","slug":"performing-outdoors-about-aesthetics-and-ideology-an-interview-with-joan-font","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/performing-outdoors-about-aesthetics-and-ideology-an-interview-with-joan-font\/","title":{"rendered":"Performing Outdoors: About Aesthetics and Ideology: An Interview with Joan Font"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Merc\u00e8 Saumell<\/strong>*<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joan Font was born in 1949, in a town near Barcelona. He trained at the prestigious Jack Lecoq school in Paris. In 1971, together with several Catalan colleagues, some of whom were also Lecoq students, he founded the Comediants theatre group. Comediants is one of the finest examples of the so-called Spanish Independent Theatre. It is also a leading company in international outdoor theatre. The company is renowned for its artistic versatility (working in the fields of theatre, televisi\u00f3n, audiovisual arts and so on).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comediants has been characterized by an increasing emphasis upon the visual dimension of its productions, as well as a popular, festival atmosphere, and a direct relationship with its audience. Font has always created work which has a strong grounding in popular culture and iconography. Unquestionably, Comediants\u00b4 performances in Venice are unforgettable; the Biennale commissioned them to revive its historic production Carnival<\/em>, for example. There has been similar acclaim for their shows in New York (at Central Station), Bogot\u00e1 (Plaza Bol\u00edvar) and Barcelona (Gaud\u00ed\u2019s Park G\u00fcell), among many other places.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Venecia globos (Hot air balloons at the Venice Carnaval), 1980. Photo: unknown<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The documentary Comediants, with the Sun in the Suitcase<\/em> (2013) gives a good insight into the company’s unique creative tools. Font, whose dynamism and energy are legendary, has provided great doses of fantasy and excitement for several generations of spectators around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Comediants and Bread and Puppet performing together in Barcelona, 1978. Photo: Pilar Aymerich<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Comediants will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2021. In its very beginnings, Comediants was related to other street theatre troupes such as Bread and Puppet and Odin Teatret. What did they have in common with you? How did the Spanish political context, during the end of Francoism, influence the beginnings of Comediants?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fifty years ago, our reality was tinged with an ash-grey colour; we lived without full freedom, still under a very active censorship. As members of the Catalan Independent Theatre, Comediants emerged with the desire to transgress, following the example of the most avant-garde European and American theatre of the time, companies such as: Th\u00e9\u00e2tre du Soleil, Bread and Puppet, Odin Teatret and Living Theatre. We were lucky to meet and share experiences with them.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Odin and Comediants performing together in Canet de Mar, 1977. Photo: Pau Barcel\u00f3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

All of us were united by the desire and the need for freedom of creation, the search for our own unique language, the use of new spaces for performances and the occupation of the street as a demand and struggle. We were born in a moment of change, the hippy, green and liberation movements, the discovery of marijuana, sexual liberation and feminism. Comediants was inspired by all these and went on to formulate its own language and its own way of living and understanding life. We are interested in a sensual theatre, what we could call \u201cthe festive spirit of existence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Video 1<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
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