In March of this year, the calendar of performances and the book launch is as follows:
- 1 and 2 March. Italian premier of the play Nerium Park at the Teatro di Rifredi in Florence.
- 2 March at 6 pm. Launch of the book Teatro by Josep Maria Miró. With the participation of Xavier Albertí (director of the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya) and Daniele Corsi (professor of Spanish Language and Translation at the Università per Stranieri di Diena), and with the presence of the publisher Mattia Visani (Cue Press), the translator and director Angelo Savelli, the director Mario Gelardi and the author Josep Maria Miró. In conjunction with the Fondazione Teatro della Toscana.
- 6-10 March. Nerium Park at the Teatro Nuovo in Naples
- 7-17 March. Il Principio di Archimedes at the Teatro Spazio Diamante in Rome
- 21-24 March. Nerium Park at the Teatro Spazio Diamante in Rome
Nerium Park, a portrait of superficiality in human relations
Nerium Park is a social thriller while also being a faithful portrait of the generation raised under the ideology of the urban development boom and a description of the superficiality of human relations. What are our relationships based on? Are we as materialistic as everyone else? Are we prepared for the worst?
The play is divided into twelve scenes, each corresponding to a month, and its name comes from oleander (from the Latin Nerium oleander), a toxic, ornamental shrub which often allowed to inhabit these new urban developments and motorway areas.
Nerium Park (2012) unanimously won the Quim Masó award and was distinguished with the Jaume Vidal i Alcover literary prize. It has been performed in theatres all over the world, including in Argentina, Mexico, Miami, Cyprus, Romania and Uruguay.
El principi d’Arquímedes asks questions on contemporary fears
With the municipal swimming pool as the backdrop, Miró constructs a story based on a deed which may or may not be real: a girl tells her parents that she saw the swimming coach kiss one of her teammates. The reality of the deeds is reconstructed from two completely different interpretations, such that the audience is involved in the play to decide the final judgement on such a controversial topic as paedophilia.
In the words of Esteve Miralles, the play “is a character drama which presents a moral conflict that is extremely timely in the contemporary social debate. Based on a suspicion, the play challenges the audience by revealing their prejudices. The suspicion fuels fear, and this leads to violence. The fluidity and precision with which the scenes are constructed and the originality of the formal structure of the text are noteworthy. The play creates a space that viewers have to complete in their imaginations. Under this apparent simplicity, it has the ability to bring depth and evocative quality to everyday situations.”
The play has garnered widespread recognition from an international run with different productions in countries like Germany, Argentina, Greece, Mexico, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom, Russia and Italy. A dramatised reading of it was also held at the Comédie-Française.
Josep Maria Miró
He holds a degree in directing and playwriting from the Institute of Theatre and in journalism from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. He is the author of La travessia, Obac, Estripar la terra, Fum, Nerium Park, El principi d’Arquimedes, Gang Bang and La dona que perdia tots els avions. He has received more than a dozen awards, including the Frederic Roda award for Catalan Belles-Lettres Night and the prestigious Born Prize, the latter twice. His plays have premiered and been read in more than 20 countries all over the world. He is also a professor of playwriting in the Bachelor’s in Performing Arts in Girona and a member of the reading committee at the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya since 2013.
