They Won’t Take Laughter Away

It seemed like it was all over. Then, suddenly, you realize that it isn’t, and that instead of moving forward we’re slipping backwards. With the Catalan Government taken over, the shock to those of us who produce culture will prove tenacious. As a matter of fact, they’ve already punished us, they’ve already sent us down a certain path. We’re already starting to feel afraid. And that can’t be. A creator, an artist, has to be completely free. If not, it all makes no sense. We need to be able to say, to do, to think. If we artists can’t be free, what can we do?

There’s plenty of unease, and people aren’t going the theatre. But we have to have a need to protect ourselves and to reflect. Going to the theatre, listening to music, seeing an exhibit… It’s not that we need to pretend nothing’s happening, it’s that plenty’s happening. So let’s enrich ourselves culturally. Because culture is one of the indispensable pillars of our people.

Those of us in the theatre and the circus are very used to living precariously. And they won’t make us be quiet. In spite of everything, we’ll forge on and tell everything we intend to do and to tell. Our profession is strong, in that sense.

We know how to live, and how to live with a sense of humour! It’s our escape valve. At the angriest moments, laugh. Laugh about it. If you have an enemy pursuing you, let them see you laugh: ha, ha, ha, it’ll only make them angrier and hurt them more. The ability to laugh makes us move forward. And they’ll never take laughter away from us.

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