Greek 2026: the recommended shows

Five international names

‘Ophelia’s Got Talent’, by Florentina Holzinger

Teatre Lliure, July 2 and 3

The Austrian Florentina Holzinger already warns from the outset that she does not want to please the audience, but to stir them in their seats. For this reason, Ophelia’s Got Talent cannot detach itself from the idea of risk, of scenes that push the boundaries of convention and of a show that has little to do with its original starting point, Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Holzinger approaches it through the concept of water and with an entirely female cast that will bring reflections on violence, reproduction, and care to the stage. Show in English with Catalan surtitles. Tickets sold out.

‘Wasted land’, by Ntando Cele

Teatre Lliure, July 10 and 11

Considered one of the most relevant creators on the South African scene, Ntando Cele brings to the Grec for the first time a show of her own about the colonialism of waste. The artist fuses theatre, black humour, music, and projections to stage the relationship between the West and developing countries when it comes to disposing of their waste. In addition, Cele will take advantage of the stop in Barcelona to bring the show SPAfrica, directed by Julian Hetzel, to the Centre de les Arts Lliures of the Fundació Joan Brossa. Show in English with Catalan subtitles.

‘Brel’, by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Solal Mariotte and Rosas

Grec Theatre, July 16 and 17

It is no exaggeration to say that Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker is a living legend of contemporary dance. In the 80s, she marked a before and after in this discipline with Rosas danst Rosas, and since then her creations have established this creator as one of the indispensable figures in contemporary dance. In Brel she duets with Solal Mariotte, an emerging dancer and choreographer trained in breakdance, and together they fuse their movements with the songbook of Jacques Brel.

‘Seppuku’, by Angélica Liddell

Lliure Theatre, from July 24 to 26

Beauty, poetry, and provocation are the main ingredients of Angélica Liddell’s creations, an artist who loves risk and is accustomed to stretching her body and work to painful limits. In Seppuku, Liddell reflects on death and suicide through the figure of Yukio Mishima. The show contains scenes of disturbing force and others that generated rejection and discomfort at the premiere of the show at Temporada Alta. It is impossible to leave the theater indifferent after witnessing Liddell’s works. This one, performed in Spanish and Japanese, has the peculiarity that it begins at a quarter to five in the morning. Tickets sold out.

‘A Trial’, by Christiane Jatahy, Wagner Moura and Lucas Paraizo

Teatre Lliure, July 30 and 31

Beyond television and film fame of the actor Wagner Moura, Christiane Jatahy’s latest show is one of the most anticipated offerings at Grec. To begin with, because the Brazilian creator has amply demonstrated the capacity to seduce the Catalan public with profound and poignant proposals. But also for the staging of the production. A juggling act turns the audience into a jury and merges theater and cinema, taking inspiration from An enemy of the people by Ibsen. Performance in Portuguese with surtitles in English and Catalan. Tickets sold out.

Five discoveries

‘Bogotá’, by Andrea Peña

Flower Market, July 4 and 5

Can politics be attacked through dance? Obviously, and this is what the Colombian choreographer Andrea Peña proposes in this piece that invites the public to move from chaos to resurrection. Full of baroque references, the work investigates death through the bodies of nine dancers, who have the challenge of paying homage to the resistance of peoples by drawing inspiration from ancient mythology and magical realism. Bogotá is the choreographer’s Barcelona debut.

‘Ceramic Circus’, by Julian Vogel

Flower Market, July 14 and 15

Swiss artist Julian Vogel promises that, with this show, no one will be bored for a second. Ceramic Circus brings the circus to the title, but radically departs from the most conventional discipline. Here you will find inline skating and bicycle acrobatics, endlessly spinning plates, and non-stop percussion. Vogel also plays with ceramics, incorporating them as another element on stage, while also wanting to reflect on the frenetic life of our present. Show for audiences aged 7 and up.

‘Who is there’, by Amaga

Joan Brossa Foundation Centre for Free Arts, from July 13 to 22

The Amaga collective specializes in magic and illusionism, but they do not feel represented at all by the most popular figure of the magician. For this reason, the company has decided to merge theater with illusionism techniques, creating a unique and daring proposal, full of poetry and with a dramaturgy that transits through an atmosphere of terror. Who is there starts on New Year’s Eve when Pere, the protagonist, has his house invaded. This starting point will be the trigger for a production full of things that appear and disappear, everyday illusions, and optical effects. Show in Catalan.

‘Muljil’, by Elephants Laugh

Teatre Lliure, July 15 and 16

After passing through the Avignon Festival, the Korean company Elephants Laugh will land in Barcelona with a captivating show inspired by the diving practice of the women of Jeju Island. Submerged in four cubicles filled with water, the four characters (a man, a pregnant woman, a transgender person, and a woman driven by the desire for physical transformation) will bring their stories of vulnerability, marked by societal pressures, to the stage. All this while they try to hold their breath underwater, with scenes that are breathtaking and at the same time full of beauty. Show in Korean with Catalan subtitles.

‘Total democracy’, by Los Voluble

The Chapel of the Macba, July 22

The brothers Pedro and Benito Jiménez want to reclaim the death of Franco (taking advantage of the 50th anniversary of the event) and approach it through humor, satire, electronic music, and flamenco. The result of this artistic cocktail is a show that draws from the creators’ personal archive, from their previous shows – which they revisit with a new perspective – and from the present. taking advantage of the 50th anniversary) and approach it through humor, satire, electronic music, and flamenco. The result of this artistic cocktail is a show that draws from the creators’ personal archive, from their previous shows – which they revisit with a new perspective – and from the present. Democracia total will connect the Transition with current issues – wars, disinformation, technooligarchies, corruption – through choreography and contemporary dance.

Five Catalan theatre shows

‘L’albada’, by Jaume Viñas

Library Theatre, until July 30

The most ambitious show by the playwright and actor Jaume Viñas spans three generations and runs from the Civil War to the present day. L’albada is a great family story marked by silences and starring Alba, a young university student in search of her origins. The search will take her from the Salamanca Archive to the struggles of a group of war militants and the decisions and renunciations of some of them to survive. Directed by Oriol Broggi, the show stars Clara Mir and is performed in Catalan.

‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’, by Marc Rosich and Jordi Cornudella, based on the work of Oscar Wilde

Romea Theatre, from June 30 to August 2

Àngels Gonyalons interprets all the roles in the ‘auca’ in The Picture of Dorian Gray in a version by Marc Rosich and Jordi Cornudella that promises to be “a delicate chamber piece where text and music go hand in hand”. On stage, the actress will be Dorian, the controversial Basyl Hayward, the young Sybil with whom the protagonist falls in love, and many other characters that make up this classic about the cult of youth and narcissistic individualism. Performed in Catalan, the production features the accompaniment of a male vocal trio and a string quintet.

‘Factory (A Midsummer Night’s Dream)’, by Àlex Rigola based on the work of William Shakespeare

Heartbreak Hotel, from June 30 to July 31

“A madness that can only be seen at the Grec”. This is how Àlex Rigola defines his latest show, a version of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream with a dazzling cast made up of Elisabeth Casanovas, Xesca Piñón, Jordi Oriol, Lluís Villanueva, and Muntsa Alcañiz, among others. In the small stage box from the Heartbreak Hotel, in Sants, the 12 actors will have the challenge of staging Shakespeare’s play mirroring the life of Andy Warhol. A theatrical festival that premiered in Düsseldorf in 2014 and has now been re-made in a new version. Show in Catalan.

‘The sixteenth card of the major arcana’, by Oriol Puig Grau

Sala Beckett, from July 1st to August 2nd

In recent years, Oriol Puig Grau has established himself as one of the names in Catalan dramaturgy to follow closely. After works such as Karaoke Elusia (2021) and Massa brillant (2025), Puig Grau has been in residence at Sala Beckett and has developed El número setze dels arcans majors. It is a show about magicians, hippies, and deserters from the former USSR, performed in Catalan by Lluïsa Castell, Alba Pujol, Mariona Pagès, and Laura Roig.

‘No miris’, by Cultura i Conflicte

CCCB Theatre Hall, July 9 and 10

The company Cultura i Conflicte, responsible for gripping shows like Encara hi ha algú al bosc, has spent two years researching war criminals and the impact of their actions on those around them. They have traveled to Argentina, Chile, Spain, and Japan and conducted dozens of interviews to create a documentary theatre performance full of questions. Under what would we justify crossing a red line? How does a family member’s violence cross several generations? The play is based on the story of Verónica, a Chilean woman who was the daughter of torture victims and, at the same time, the niece of one of the great torturers. Show in Catalan.

Five unique proposals

‘To believe in masks’, by Romeo Castellucci

Raval Room of CCCB, July 4th and 5th

The Italian creator Romeo Castellucci will install a minimalist device at the CCCB without actors or apparent action, but with an objective: for the public to inhabit a space of silence, memory, and word. Spectators will find a chair and a series of rigid masks, each linked to a person. Whoever interacts with it will become an active witness to a story that seeks to transform absence into presence. Tickets sold out.

‘My mother and the money’, by Anacarsis Ramos and Pornotráfico

Teatre Lliure, July 7 and 8

The Mexican Josefina Orlaineta is the mother of creator Anacarsis Ramos and, over six decades, has held more than 40 different jobs. Her son wanted to reflect on the mother’s relationship with money, and for this reason, he brings her onto the stage in a show full of humor, made up of shared memories but at the same time with a very sharp critical eye. Precariousness, class violence, shame, and intrusion will emerge in their apparently informal conversation, which will make the audience reflect as much as it will sell them a chorizo to make some extra cash. Show in Spanish.

‘La protagonista’, by Lorena Nogal

Mercat de les Flors, July 10 and 11

After debuting as a soloist last year with PICASSa, Lorena Nogal continues to grow her path as a creator with La protagonista, a research on everything that constitutes us. National Award 2024, Nogal is one of the most talented and surprising dancers from our country. In this solo, the performer will use her body to build a laboratory of scenic transformations based on everything that surrounds her: materials, textures, and very different objects.

‘Human Requiem’, by Orfeó Català

Tinell Hall. July 18 and 19

After the moving experience of last year at the Grec, the Orfeó Català takes on a new challenge this year. In the Saló del Tinell in Plaça del Rei, soloists and choir will mingle with the audience to perform A German Requiem of Brahms in the London version. Directed by Simon Hasley, the singers will shape a piece that sends a message of hope. They will do so, moreover, in a space full of historical significance and in which artistic performances are very rarely held. Sold out.

‘The fight of the vines’, by Zora Snake

Mercat de les Flors, July 26 and 27

Even before entering the room, the audience for this show will dive in fully, stepping on leaves and hearing the sound of drums. The Cameroonian Zora Snake wants the spectators to immerse themselves in the atmosphere of a Central African forest to transport them, with the movements of the dancers, to the population’s struggles against deforestation. Drawing inspiration from the rhythms of the Baka community, The Fight of the Vines is a journey to a land full of ancestral customs and strongly threatened by capitalism.

Five musical shows

‘Heavy metal’, from Asia

La Model, July 16 and 17

In October 1973, 113 people were arrested for participating in a clandestine meeting of the Assembly of Catalonia. Among them were the musician Carles Santos and the filmmaker Pere Portabella, who ended up in the old Model prison. From there, five decades later, the violinist Asia paid tribute to them with a show that recreates Santos’ clandestine action, who played a out-of-tune Bach sonata on a damaged piano they found abandoned.

‘Arrels de llum’ (Roots of Light), with the Cor Cererols, Maria Arnal, Marc Díaz, and Lídia Pujol

Sagrada Família, July 17

Coinciding with the centenary of Antoni Gaudí’s death, the Grec has achieved a new and impressive setting: the Sagrada Família. In the temple, a sober and significant choral proposal will be presented with the voices of the Cor Cererols (directed by Marc Díaz), Lídia Pujol, and Maria Arnal. Together, they will perform a repertoire of nature, architecture, and spirituality, which travels from the 14th century to the 21st century and aims to be, at the same time, a tribute to Gaudí and his entire universe.

‘Cançons del Grec’, with various artists

Greek Theatre, July 20th

One of the main events of Grec to celebrate the festival’s 50th anniversary will be musical. The festival will bring together some of the great voices that have performed there throughout history. It will be a concert spanning various generations and musical styles, with top-tier artists such as Maria del Mar Bonet, Mayte Martín, Lucía Fumero, Tarta Relena, Estrella Morente, Rosa Zaragoza, Borja Penalba, and Meritxell Gené. Together they will build an unmissable musical journey that will also feature the participation of a base band formed by ten musicians, under the coordination of Taller de Músics.

‘Kiss the beast’, by Sébastien Tellier

Greek Theatre, July 25

French singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sébastien Tellier defines his new album as “a crazy night, an attempt to tame chaos, or a week’s vacation in a theme park.” With this starting point, the artist will take the stage at the Teatre Grec to perform some of his best-known songs such as La ritournelle, Univers, L’amour et la violence, and Fingers of steel. All this, making the most of his long-haired dandy aesthetic and navigating between sensuality, irony, and fun.

‘The night of the High Musician’, by Indi Gest and the Municipal Band of Barcelona

Greek Theatre, July 28

Last year, the Grec proposed to Indi Gest, the company led by Jordi Oriol, to invent a show in tribute to musical theater. The commission was such a success – the audience left enthusiastic – that the festival has decided to repeat it. With the Banda Municipal de Barcelona and performers like Paula Malia and Jordi Vidal, La nit del Músic Alt will stroll through the best-known and most beloved repertoire of this genre with the humor, skill, and uniqueness of Indi Gest. Show in Catalan.