La mala dicció

La Mala Dicció completes Trilogia del Lament, where Jordi Oriol reinterprets three Shakespearian tragedies with the word as protagonist in order to reflect on the paradoxes created by language. While La caiguda d'Amlet (or La Caiguda de l’ac) (2007) modified Hamlet by just having a single character; and while L’Empestat (2015) perverted The Tempest by displaying only two characters; this last creation is inspired by Macbeth, putting three characters onstage who discuss nowadays not about the ambition to achieve power, but how we act when we are possessed by it. 

In the first scene of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, three characters make their appearance to announce her spells and curses. Three witches foretell the mean auguries of the destiny which are going to turn drama into tragedy. They tell Macbeth that he is going to become king; the resulting desire of being king, and the fear of not becoming it, make him commit a series of murders that will increase his fear, as well as his remorse and its consequent self-destructive reaction. 

Today, we find ourselves immersed in the effects of current capitalism, which confounds the upper and lower strata, the good and the bad. And, due to the geographical conditions and the evident polarity, we have been entitled to the power and the illusion of freedom. These have been our cards for the game: dominated by power and so eternally unsatisfied that we have abused of our authority, our innumerable crimes have driven the world towards the limit of collapse. 

Nowadays conscious of this fact, we are regretful for this situation, with the nightmares make it difficult for us to sleep at ease. Once the natural world is dead, we are only left with this language mess. We have been cursed for letting ourselves to addiction. This work means an allegory about the power of the word and about the delirium of imagination. 

Second prize in El Temps de les Arts on dramatic art 2022. 

Produced by Indi Gest, Grec 2021 Festival de Barcelona and Teatre Lliure. Supported by Oficina de Suport a la Iniciativa Cultural (OSIC).