Uns altres Sagarra

Núria Santamaria

In 1947, disillusioned with certain dynamics of the Catalan theatre world, Josep Maria de Sagarra decided to settle in Paris and made contact with the new currents of the writing of Tennessee Williams, Albert Camus, Franz Kafka and John Steinbeck. This need for stylistic renewal led him to write Galatea, Ocells i llops and L’alcova vermella, probably the plays with which Sagarra most originally explored his aesthetic commitment as a playwright.

The strong character of these three texts meant a certain disconnection with the audience of his time used to a more indulgent Sagarra, which has led to some of his exceptional plays being condemned to a degree of oblivion, which is unfair and above all hard to understand if we read them from a contemporary perspective. Rediscovering these pieces which still have much to say to us can mean rediscovering one of our most important playwrights to better place him within our cultural tradition.