Nearly 10,000 students from schools and institutes have enjoyed the theatrical program of the 2023-24 season
Cooltiva’t is a proposal with different shows that allows young spectators to start enjoying, discovering and experiencing the performing arts, with pedagogical proposals for each show, designed by the educational service department of the Viu el Teatre organization, endorsed for the pedagogical quality seal of the UB. During the season, other proposals have been added such as talks, workshops, trainings and activities around the performing arts and education which aim to accompany children, young people and education professionals in the different activities proposed.
Current events on stage
The 2023/24 programming of the Cooltiva’t cycle has featured first-line shows chosen, specifically, to make up a theatrical offer based on the motto “The present day on stage” and which addresses conflicts and topics of interest of rabid topicality by in order to link the stage experience of the students with the most immediate surrounding everyday life. Thus, during the first term, there were performances by Alan de Mar Puig and Mateu Peramiquel, a musical based on the life of young Alan Montoliu, a transgender boy who was the victim of bullying and abuse until his tragic end in 2015. During in the same period, L’amic retrobat by Josep Maria Miró, based on the novel by Fred Uhlman and directed by Joan Arqué, was also programmed, a story of friendship and personal conflicts set in the Germany of 1933, in full rise of the National Socialist movement, which serves as a warning against the danger of extremist discourses and the endemic presence of fascism.
The programming of the second quarter was made up of three shows. First of all, CR#SH (Totom pot caure) by Miquel Mas Fiol, a show about the importance of mental health among young people and the need to ask for help to get up when we fall. Also, Elling by Simon Bent, directed by Pau Carrió, starring David Verdaguer and Albert Prat and based on the successful novel Behind the great indoors by Ingvar Ambjørnsen brings us closer to the tender story of Elling and Kjell, two people affected by psychiatric illnesses who share a flat in Oslo and struggle to find their place despite adversity; a show that emphasizes mental health while exposing the persistent taboo surrounding mental illness and the isolation of those who suffer from it. The Voltaire / Rousseau. La disputa show closed the second term. The play by Jean-François Prévand, directed and interpreted by Josep Maria Flotats, which proposes a philosophical exchange between two of the most representative figures of their schools of thought, a dialectical struggle that allows philosophy to be brought closer to new audiences from a practical and current perspective while addressing the main point of disagreement between both lines of thought: Is man good or vile by nature?
Now, the Cooltiva’t cycle culminates this third term with the already mentioned Jauría, a show built through the reliable transcripts of the La Manada case, one of the most media-driven trials of recent years and which forever changed the legal perspective on the sexual assault.
An unprecedented balance sheet
Attendance figures during this third season of Cooltiva’t have exceeded the milestones set in previous years, in an unprecedented season in terms of audience figures and the interest aroused among spectators and potential spectators. As usual, the collusion with the teaching centers continues to strengthen day by day, establishing a two-way communication with the academic leaders and generating material that complements the experience lived in the theaters. All productions are assigned a pre-agreed pedagogical dossier that allows immersion in the theme and authorship of the work in question with a series of tasks and exercises appropriate to the stipulated level. In addition, all the shows carry out a post-performance colloquium where attendees can ask the company any questions or curiosities about the play, solidifying the stage experience and building the loyalty of the young audience.