After 48 hours since he came back from Bucharest, Guillem Clua wrote these lines about his experience at Teatrul Odeon.
Back from Bucharest
I usually find it hard to understand the true meaning of the events I lived right after they happened. It’s been 48 hours since I came back from Bucharest and the mixture of feelings inside of me is appalling.
The fact that the Teatrul Odeon chose to produce Promised Land came as an unexpected gift. The play was planned to open in Barcelona last season, but it was cancelled for a number of reasons. And right when I thought I would have to wait one or two years to see my play on stage, the Odeon came in. So yes, Promised Land will have its world premiere in Bucharest this coming fall, and I can’t be happier, especially when I got to know the team involved in it. In the few days I got to share with them, I saw that the Teatrul Odeon personnel and the artistic team in charge of the play are exceptional. It was a pleasure to know them and see the great work they did with the staged reading.
I also feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to teach in two workshops. The first one was held at the Instituto Cervantes with high school students. The next day it was the turn of university students. For me it was a great chance to understand the artistic motivations and the social reality of Romanian youth, even if it was only for a few hours.
In short, it’s amazing to see how projects like this can bring human beings –and whole cities– closer. That’s the true spirit of art, and it should be at the core of our European identity. After the reading, a lot of people asked me if I understood anything from the Romanian translation, and I always said yes, because we were all speaking the same language of the arts, and that’s what brought all of us together.
Guillem Clua
