Throughout the years, the University Theatre Festival has been the visible result of the classes received by the performing arts students in the permanent workshops, an academic and cultural initiative located at the recently recovered Palmireno Hall, implemented in 1985 by the first director of the Theatre Club, Ramón Rosselló, and continued by his academic heirs: Ferran Grau and Laura Monrós, current head of the Club.

“The spirit of the Festival is to share the work done at the university classrooms,” explains professor Laura Monrós, who highlights the inclusion of dance in the performing arts of the Universitat de València in 2016, as well as the following cooperation of the SeDi Information and Promotion Service of the UV with the Festival through the dramatized reading of the Creative Writing Awards’ winning work in theatre modality at the opening of the cultural university event.

Thus, this year’s Festival will be inaugurated by Óscar Palomares Navarro with the work ‘Allò que passa mentre passa la vida’ (What happens while life goes by) directed by Núria Martín, wchich will be kick-starting the cycle on April 27, 7 PM, at the launch ceremony celebrated at La Nau’s Matilde Salvador Hall.

The special programme of this silver wedding anniversary will be developed from that moment up until June with the Matilde Hall as a central space. Nevertheless, as Laura Monrós states, “the objective is to bring performing arts to other university spaces” and, therefore, during the first week of May a monologue programme will be completed at the cafeterias of the three campuses that will act as a “multiplier event of the 25th anniversary of the Festival” as part of the Culture in Campus programme.

Professionals monologues will be carried out by Jesús Manzano and Carol Tomás on May 2nd and 4th, respectively, in Blasco Ibáñez; Rafa Alarcón, on May 3rd in Tarongers; and Arnau Soler, on May 5th in Burjassot. You can refer to the schedule here.

The Festival each day
This spirit of union among the university theatre classrooms made the Universitat de València the host, during more than two decades, of the groups from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, the University of Vigo, the University Carlos III of Madrid, the University of the Balearic Islands, the University of Murcia and the Valencian public universities.

This spirit endures and, on the 25th anniversary of the Festival, will welcome the universities of Murcia, Alacant and Castelló. The first one will perform a new version of The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare on Friday, April 29th, directed by David García Coll.

The group Dans la Cage will carry out the interview-performance ‘Matéi Visniec dans la cage’ (Matéi Visniec on the cage) on May 4th and 5th; the Theatre Club Carles Pons of the Universitat Jaume I de Castelló will perform ‘OPUS 2022’, directed by Toni Aparisi, on May 6th; the students from the level 1 theatre and dance workshops of the Universitat de València, imparted by Jorge Picó and Christine Cloux, will perform ‘La fàbrica de les paraules’ (The words factory), based on the tale by Agnès de Lestrade and Valéria Docampo, on May 12th and 13th; the students of Pep Sanchis, from the level 2 theatre workshop of the UV, will perform the collective creation ‘Parlem?’ (Shall we talk?) on May 18th and 19th; and ASSAIG (Theatre Group at the University of Valencia) will premiere their last production, also directed by Pep Sanchis, ‘Escolta’m’ (Listen to me) by Emili Chaqués on May 25th, 26th and 27th.

On June 1st, 2nd and 3rd, Escena Erasmus, the European drama project of the Universitat de València, will start their summer tour, supported by the Diputació de València. In 2022, this tour will be dedicated to the European Year of Youth with the premiere of the work ‘El desig de la joventut’ (Youth’s desire) by Maribel Bayona, Guada Sáez, Daniel Tormo, Mohamed Dourasse and Anna Marí, directed by Josep Valero.

The Theatre Group of La Nau Gran will perform ‘Vamos a contaros cuentos’ (Let’s tell you tales), scripted and directed by Clemente Carrasco, on June 8th and 9th; the Festival will welcome the Theatre Club of the University of Alacant who, directed by Morgan Blasco, will perform ‘The Process of the Donkeys Shadow’ by Friedrick Dürrenmatt on June 10th; and the students of the Permanent Theatre Workshop for people aged 55 and over, who have learned the stage tricks from Tono Berti and Pura Marco, will be in charge of the marvellous conclusion of the Festival performing the Valle-Inclán’s classic ‘Divine Words’.

All shows at the Matilde Salvador will start at 7 PM, except for ‘The Process of the Donkeys Shadow’ on Friday, June 10, that will start at 8 PM. The reservation of tickets can be made at the University shop or on the website https://events.fundacio.es/o/5