The Lower Depths
The labyrinthine corridors of the subway are the setting chosen by Carmen Portaceli for her updated adaptation of The Lower Depths by Maxim Gorky, a play that is “entirely relevant,” according to the director, as it addresses the moral misery caused by economic hardship.
Gorky wrote this piece in 1902, portraying the lives of 17 characters from the most impoverished layers of Russian urban society, living in miserable conditions in a lodging house near the Volga.
Carme Portaceli and Albert Tola have relocated the residence of this group of destitute individuals to the subway of a modern-day city, reducing the number of characters to a dozen in order to “achieve a more oppressive dramatic form,” according to Tola. However, the two playwrights have kept most of Gorky’s original text intact because “it is tremendously contemporary.”
“We chose the subway because it is a space that during the day is used by those who have not yet fallen into destitution and are on their way to work, and at night it can serve another purpose if taken over by those who can’t afford housing,” explained set designer Paco Azorín.
“During the day there is a commercial life, and at night another commerce begins,” added Portaceli, referring to the fact that “unfortunately, the same values and hierarchies are upheld underground as above.”
The underworld hierarchy is controlled by the character played by Manel Barceló, who exploits the poor and charges them for protection “in pure mafia style,” according to Portaceli.
This blackmailer named Kostiliov merges two characters from Gorky’s original work: the innkeeper and the police officer.
Manel Barceló built his character “taking this dual origin into account,” so that it is clear his power “comes from corruption.”
Hope is one of the central themes of the play and is personified by Sveta, a young woman who offers this small community of cynics the possibility of change.
“The characters come into contact with hope, and they themselves reject it,” Portaceli pointed out, adding that this is “very current” and should lead us “to reflection.”
“It’s a very revolutionary play,” affirmed the director, emphasizing that “those responsible for such misery do not appear in the play—just as those responsible for our current crisis continue acting as if they were blameless.”
Tola added that this production “is more ambiguous than the original” in pointing out who is to blame, because “today’s mechanisms leading to destitution are more hidden.”
“The misery that existed in Russia in 1902 led to the communist revolution. Here we’re worse off, because there’s no revolution on the horizon to solve any of this,” lamented Bellvel.
Text extracted from the digital platform La Información
Play The Lower Depths by Maxim Gorky
Direction Carme Portaceli
Cast: Nao Albet – David Bagés – Manel Barceló – Mohamed el Bouhabi – Roger Casamajor – Lluïsa Castell – Jordi Collet – Daniela Feixas – Gabriela Flores – Lina Lambert – Albert Pérez – Xavier Ripoll
Translation from Russian Helena Vidal – Jordi Bordas i Coca
Original music Dani Nel·lo – Jordi Prats
Movement Ferran Carvajal
Set design Paco Azorín
Costume design Lluna Albert
Lighting Miguel Muñoz
Sound Pepe Bel
Makeup and hair Toni Santos
Assistant director Mercè Vila Godoy
Production Teatre Nacional de Catalunya
