It's All Greek to Me

Today's adventure was short, with a single stop: the Teatre Lliure. 

 This theater, tucked back by the MNAC alongside a few other museums at the base of Montjuic, is one of the most prestigious in Catalonia despite being founded rather recently in 1976.  A group of theater professionals from barcelona got together in the Gracia neighborhood and, as with all things in Barcelona, used this group to celebrate their unique Catalan language and heritage.

That said, the theater is neither exclusively for Catalan works nor stuck in the past; it revisits classics but is best known for its contemporary offerings.  It's a cooperative society that makes its own productions, some of which then travel the world.

A view of the inside

 Currently, the lobby boasts several boards covered in fluttering newspaper clippings hailing recent performances. One in particular, called Imagen de Body de Marie Chouinard, seems to feature two women thrashing about in underwear made of tape similar to that of the main character in The Fifth Element:

In this case, however, it only covers their lower regions and the performers are topless.  As I've said before, not much phases people in these here parts.
Another person who had a lot of press was Ramon Simo, the theater director and stage designer who is the director of the Grec for the next few years.  What is the Grec, you might ask?  While it technically means the "Greek Festival," El Grec has nothing to do with anything Greek.  It has everything to do with being theatrical.  It's Barcleona's largest annual dance, theater, and music festival and occurs every summer without fail to flood the city with merriment and culture.

 This year, top artists include Katie Melua, Marie Chouinard (of half-naked-underwear-and-flying-boobs dances), The Master and Margarita, and Compania XY.  The dance festival is held from July 6th to 9th.  Those days will include dance performances and workshops in public places, so keep your eyes peeled for your chance to bust a move (I hereby solemnly swear that if I bust a move in public, I will photodocument the moment and share it with you).
Here's to the 36th El Grec festival and its 68 shows (including 34 world premiers).
Fun facts: The Teatre Grec was built to hold 1,894 people in 1929.  Now, the number of spectators at the festival Grec is about 110.320 (as of 2011).

Spotted: Barcelona street signs.  While they can be frustratingly hard to locate when you're lost and your vision is blurring in despair, they're also a source of fascinating fun facts.  When the street is named after someone important, it usually includes a few choice details.  These run from saints to mayors to athletes to poets to... Hannibal?

Yep, yesterday I discovered Hannibal Street.  If you've somehow missed out on learning who Hannibal was, please read up on him here.  Note to my fellow youth: this is the elephant-over-mountains Hannibal, not the Cannibal Hannibal psycho-killer.