Theatre Classroom

The UVic Theatre Classroom was established in the 1993-1994 academic year as an initiative by the Department of Expressions of the School of Teachers (at what was then Estudis Universitaris de Vic), and was known as the University Experimental Theatre Classroom (ATEU). It was part of the optional subject of Dramatization, which was aimed at addressing the wishes of a group of motivated students who wished to engage in cultural activities outside the academic timetable.

“We chose the word 'classroom' rather than 'group' because we wanted to create a space for learning, understanding, creating and making mistakes, and for experiencing all the connotations of theatre in an open way,” says Dolors Rusiñol, the current director of the Classroom, who has always been at the forefront of all the projects that it has carried out since its inception.

The term “experimental” also constituted a major statement of intent. According to Rusiñol, “our experimental status opened up many avenues for artistic research, and provided the opportunity for us to work simply based on the resources available, without the technical requirements of conventional theatre. The project had modest financial means, which meant that we could not do large-scale productions for both technical and stage design reasons. However, we had a group of people made up of students who although they had little theatrical knowledge contributed a great deal of energy and were very eager to say things through theatre.”

As a result, the Theatre Classroom was established to make artistic creation more accessible to the students, and changed its name as the institution developed, such as when Estudis Universitaris de Vic attained university status. It also fostered the institution's cultural activities and forged close links with other university theatre classrooms, which were at that time present in many of Catalonia's universities.

One production per year

The UVic Theatre Classroom has staged a production every academic year since its foundation, and the current total is 27. According to Dolors Rusiñol, “this is a dynamic has been sustained over time which I think is worth a great deal of appreciation.” However, it has not always been easy to sustain, “above all because of the limitations and constraints imposed by the constant turnover of students, and the conditions involved in spending time on the Classroom not always being the best,” by which she means the various academic schedules and interruptions that take place during the academic year. Nevertheless, an increasing number of people from various fields related to the University have become members, including teaching staff, administrative and services staff and even former students, and the aim is to become “a broad-based University project.”

The Theatre Classroom has not struck out on this path alone, but instead has tried to surround itself with a number of kindred spirits in both the professional and amateur dramatic field, providing a forum for ongoing dialogue between the arts in the various plays it has produced. “This is something typical of theatrical language, but in the Classroom, our cross-disciplinary perspective is particularly apparent thanks to the generous help of many dramatists, musicians and plastic artists who have contributed to the success of our work while working with very limited resources,” says Dolors Rusiñol.

From Chekhov to Aristophanes

The first play that the Theatre Classroom produced was The Good Doctor, by the American playwright Neil Simon, an adaptation of texts by the Russian Anton Chekhov, which were mostly ironic and highly theatrical short stories. “We wanted the play to have plenty of characters so we could give all the members of the group a role, and to give it a comic tone and place it at a reasonable intellectual level,” says Dolors Rusiñol, who was responsible for the choice. Rehearsals began in January 1994, but the play did not première until the following November, after the beginning of the academic year, in the Sala Modernista in the Vic Casino.

From Chekhov to Aristophanes, and from Pere Calders to Sergi Belbel, by way of James Finn and Martine Tartour, many authors have provided the texts that have been the raw material and the sources of inspiration for the Classroom's productions. “Choosing an author or a text has always been difficult, because you never have enough time, as every year you have to wait before you find out who will definitely be participating in the Classroom,” says Rusiñol, “but we try to select something so that everyone can participate and so that each actor is present to the same extent, which means that we have to end up adapting the text to people's characteristics and abilities.”

The play they were beginning to prepare last year, Monotony, by Raquel Garcia, never came to fruition due to COVID-19. “It's a play written by a member of the group, which is made to measure and something we were all involved with. The lockdown meant we couldn't take it any further, but as we were eager to work on it, we made a video imagining how the characters would have grown half a year later. Now we plan to turn it into a film, which at least means that we will be able us to participate in the University Theatre Show that will take place in Alicante,” concludes Dolors Rusiñol.