Director

After tackling plays by Mamet and O'Neill, and working on staging texts about President Bush or Chicago butcheries, Àlex Rigola (1969) once again puts into focus the problems affecting Western society- precisely, those affecting the United States of America. Better Days is not Richard Dresser's first play. In 2000, he received the Critics' Award and the Award for Best Director at the Sitiges Festival for the play Below the belt. Before becoming director of the Teatre Lliure, Àlex Rigola staged successful directions of King Ubu and Long Day's Journey into Night. His other publicly acclaimed plays have also been adaptations of classical dramas, such as William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and Richard III. At the moment, Àlex Rigola is preparing a play based on the great Roberto Bolañ novel 2666 and Tom Stoppard's Rock and Roll.

Performance

When money is tight, you have to make your way somehow... In order to survive, a group of youngsters, either unemployed or working temporary seasonal jobs, try to overcome their circumstances as best they can – heating themselves by setting furniture alight, eating the remains of meals at fast food restaurants in the city, and selling their few remaining belongings, which are of little value. Luckily, the boys soon hear voices from space, promising salvation. What kind of world is this we live in? A world waiting for better days, and which, seen from the outside, either has us laughing out loud or gazing in astonishment. After his outstanding success with King Ubu and Long Day's Journey into Night, Àlex Rigola returns to La Abadía with this funky, funny comedy from American playwright Richard Dresser. "Apocalyptic", in the words, or rather, one poweful word, of the New York Times. The protagonist’s motto is a story in itself: "You're only worth what you can sell. And right now, you haven't got anything to sell."

“If we believe in the emotionality of the characters, their actions do make sense, regardless of how extreme they may look... I personally feel that there isn’t anything in this play that could not happen to you next-door neighbour. Or to you.” (Richard Dresser)

Theatre

The Teatro de La Abadía is a theatre and an educational centre established in 1995 by the Regional Government of Madrid at former Madrid chapel “La Sagrada Familia”. After its premiere performance, Valle-Inclán’s Tableau of Avarice, Lust and Death, the theatre has concentrated its efforts on mastering acting techniques, words in action and team work with its permanent ensemble. The Theatre's leitmotif has always been the principle of “intelligent pleasure”. Today, the Teatro de La Abadía produces an average of three new plays each season. Its repertoire includes productions of all kinds of dramatic texts, from renowned contemporary authors to classical pieces by Berkoff, Ionesco, Lorca, Shakespeare etc. Its most successful plays include Brecht's About Horatians and the Curiatians, directed by Hernán Gené, and Algerian, the Servant of two Masters, directed by Albert San Juan (and performed in cooperation with three-time award-winning Animalario Theatre).

Apart from Better Days, the La Abadía Theatre will also, during the 2009/2010 season, perform the medieval play Mystery of the Magic Kings, as directed by Ana Zamora; Eduardo de Filipo's The Art of Comedy, directed by Carles Alfar, as well as Samuel Beckett's Endgame, directed by well-known Polish director Krystian Lipa, with José Luis Gómez in the lead role.