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Teatre Balmes brings stage life back to a historic Eixample building
Barcelona will gain a new stage this autumn in the heart of Eixample. Teatre Balmes will open its doors during the week of 5 to 8 November at number 137 Balmes Street, returning a building constructed in the 1920s to cultural activity.
Humour will be the backbone of the programme. Stand-up, theatrical comedy and less conventional formats will occupy a large part of the bill, although the project also reserves space for dance, flamenco, variety shows, emerging companies and performances aimed at children and young people.
Among the first confirmed names are Txabi Franquesa with Escocía, Jordi Merca with Yo sobreviví a la EGB and Óscar Sáenz with Terapia de parejas. November's programme also includes musicals, magic and family shows, with performances practically every week.
The intention is for the space to operate beyond a single evening performance. Its managers want to recover part of the spirit of popular theatres and turn it into a meeting point connected to everyday life in the Eixample, in an area especially active in commerce, restaurants and leisure.
The renovation has tried to retain the building's personality. Despite the transformations it has undergone over the last century, the building preserves elements connected with its original architecture, and the new interior design seeks to make use of that memory rather than hide it behind a completely neutral auditorium.
Behind the project is Teatre Balmes S.L. The board of directors is chaired by Manuel Portomeñe, linked to MPC Management, while Rocío Huet serves as chief executive and Julia García will take on the day-to-day management of the space in Barcelona.
The location also works in the new venue's favour. Balmes 137 is in the heart of the Eixample and a short distance from Diagonal station, as well as numerous bus routes, facilitating a programme designed both for local residents and audiences arriving from other parts of the city.
When it raises the curtain in November, Teatre Balmes will add a new address to Barcelona's performing-arts map. In a city where many former cultural spaces have disappeared or changed use, recovering a building with a century of history to fill it with audiences again also means restoring night-time and cultural activity to a corner of the Eixample.