The show takes place this Friday and Saturday as part of the Auditorio de Tenerife's new theatre programme.

 

This weekend, the new theatre program at the Auditorio de Tenerife, La Salita, will feature Joan Font's performance, El Vendedor de Humo. Crónica de una invención (The Smoke Vendor: The Chronicle of an Invention). Both performances, which tell the story of the founder of the theatre company Comediants, are scheduled for Friday, the 15th, and Saturday, the 16th, both starting at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for both shows have already sold out. Directed by Joan Font, El Vendedor de Humo  is a collaborative creation between Font and screenwriter Piti Español.

El Vendedor de Humo is a show created by Font to commemorate the company's 50 years of existence and to review his career as an artist with audiences. Projections, music, light effects, masks, and other resources the company is known for will accompany his performance to thrill and delight the audience. Throughout the show, Joan Font will recount in great theatrical style the essential adventures and aspects of his lengthy career and life, engaging the public in the processes of the company's creation and staging of its shows.

Joan Font I Pujol started in the theatre world through Els Pastorets and La Passió, those regional Christmas celebrations held in his hometown, Olesa de Montserrat. From the beginning, he took an interest in the folklore and theatre associated with Catalonian tradition, open-air performances and masks' expressive and theatrical potential.

When he was 17, he moved to Barcelona to further his education at the Estudis Nous, where he met Albert Boadella, Albert Vidal, Maria Aurèlia Capmany, Josep Anton Codina and Josep Montanyès. In 1968, with José Tamayo, he worked as director's assistant in a new version of La Passió with updated and modernised staging. At the same time, he was in charge of the lighting of the variety shows of Capmany and Jaume Vidal Alcover at the venue The Dragon's Cave. He also oversaw the lighting of La fira de la mort (1970), written by Vidal Alcover and interpreted by Grup d'Estudis Teatrals d'Horta. He graduated from Institut del Teatre (1970) and studied under Jacques Lecoq at his school in Paris.

Font is a founding member of the theatre company Comediants, which emerged on the independent theatre scene in Barcelona. During Font's stay in France, the company consolidated, and, a year later, premiered in Font's hometown Non plus plis, its first work. Described as a massive party, the work includes elements that characterise popular culture, such as effigies used in traditional festivities, and deals with the subjects of power structures and the consideration of the ephemeral nature of life through festivities.

From this moment onward, Font worked tirelessly with Comediants as an actor, creator and director. The show Non plus plis is followed by Catacroc (1973), Taller (1976), Plou i fa sol (1976), Sarau de gala (1976) and Sol, solet (1978), the latter being its first show performed on a proscenium stage.

In 1980, at the Venice Biennale, Maurizio Scaparro invited Comediants to take part in helping to recover the city's Carnival tradition. At this time, Font was collaborating with the town council of Tàrrega and Xavier Fàbregas (as the head of the Catalonian government's cinema and theatrical arts initiatives), promoting the first "Trifulques Theatre Fair" and "Xim Xim in the Street" festivities, which gave rise to FiraTàrrega, one of Catalonia's most important theatre competitions. Afterwards, Font directed shows such as Dimonis (1981), the former being one of the Comediants' most successful works.

In 1992 Font was one of the most active members of the collective: Of note are its contributions to the Seville Expo '92 (daily presentation of mascot and parade, La magia del tiempo) and the 1992 Summer Olympics held in Barcelona (presentation of mascot and closing act). Throughout the 1995s and early 2000s, Font created and directed with Comediants a wide variety of shows for diverse venues and occasions, such as inaugurations and closing ceremonies, TV advertisements, large-scale celebrations, amusement-park entertainment (such as Port Aventura, 1995-1996), festivals, sports events, etc. The staging of The Magic Flute (1999) at the Liceu Theatre marked the commencement of Font's involvement with opera.

With the incorporation of Sergi Belbel in the artistic direction of the National Theatre of Catalonia (2005-2006 season), Font joined the theatre's advisory committee, collaborating in this function until 2008. Since 2007, he has focussed his efforts on the artistic direction of operas produced by Comediants and premiered around the globe. In addition, Font has worked as an artistic director in all types of theatrical and performing arts initiatives, as well as other audio-visual, publishing and educational projects.

La Salita's programme continues on 29 and 30 November with the company Los Colochos and its new show Tuta, based on the play Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare, in which this story set in Ancient Rome is transferred to the Mexican prison context. The staging of Los Coloches's new Shakespearian adaptation provides a novel stage proposal for exploring ideas such as territory, violence, cruelty, and vengeance. The tickets can be purchased at a single price of €8 on www.auditoriodetenerife.com, at the auditorium's box office, or by dialling the phone number 902 317 327 from Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.