The Peralada Castle viewing platform is transformed into a garden in the premiere of 'Hort/Garden'.

Today, the Perelada Festival hosts the premiere of Hort/Garden , a production that combines music, text, and singing conceived by actress, singer, and composer Elena Tarrats and written by playwright Helena Tornero, who will be making her festival debut. The piece narrates the process of reconstruction of the protagonist, Abril, after experiencing the loss of her grandfather, with whom she shared a very close relationship and a shared passion: the vegetable garden. As a backdrop, viewers can reflect on how the fast-paced life we lead often disconnects us from the natural rhythm of things, or how nature and life continue their course despite all setbacks.

Hort/Garden is a co-production between the festival and the Òpera de Butxaca i Nova Creació company that is difficult to classify, “a kind of chamber opera and theatrical monologue,” as explained in the program, in which the stage plays a key role, becoming another protagonist in the story.

The piece narrates the reconstruction process of the protagonist, Abril, after experiencing the loss of her grandfather.

The Italian stage director, Silvia Costa, recreates a rectangular garden in the castle's viewing platform, using natural elements such as grass, herbs, wood, water, and stones, with an audience on both sides. In the center, an old tree metaphorically represents the grandfather to whom the garden in the story belonged.

“It's also a refuge for Abril, a support, a source of encouragement,” explains the stage director, who adds that the plants surrounding the protagonist are also “metaphors for the necessary healing process, the time one needs to heal” because “everything is part of a cycle and nothing lasts forever.”

The stage becomes another character in a completely “immersive” show.

The plot encompasses the four seasons, which Costa represents through temperature changes in the lights and strategically placed objects on the stage. The music, performed by the soloist, Elena Tarrats, and by the Icarus Ensemble, also helps to interpret the passage of time.

Costa, who also designed the costumes for the protagonist, the musicians, and the musical director, inspired by gardening motifs, says it's an "immersive show." This immersion is achieved through the scenery, the aromas it emanates, the narration of the protagonist's story, and the emotionally amplifying music. At the end of the show, the audience will have the opportunity to enter a stage they will only have seen from the outside during the performance.