Tatin Cake

When the Museu Tàpies began to give shape to the first solo exhibition dedicated to André du Colombier, the curator Anka Ptaszkowska, a close friend of the artist, opened the doors of her Paris flat to representatives of the museum. It was a space suspended in time, a dense, chaotic world where many unknown works were uncovered: documents, everyday objects and the remains of an intensely-lived life. Many of those pieces are now part of the exhibition André du Colombier: A Lyrical Point of View.

That rich disorder, brimming with remnants from life, also featured a few loose sheets of paper that seemed to belong to a theatrical piece written by du Colombier. It was Tarte Tatin, a virtually unheard-of piece that has only been performed once, and which ironically reflects on the passing of time, friendship and the absurdity of humans’ inability to communicate.

For the closure of this exhibition, the Museu Tàpies has commissioned playwright and theatre director Berta Prieto to prepare a performance of the theatrical text in the form of a dramatized reading. The proposal was to create a dialogue with the exhibition’s visual content, so that the artist’s words might fill the exhibition space with new layers of meaning, activating concerns that continue to resonate with uncommon force.

Berta Prieto (1998) is a playwright, actress, director and screenwriter. She studied in various acting schools and has a degree in Humanities (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya). Her professional debut was with El Chinabum (2018), written together with Lola Rosales and directed by Paula Ribó. That piece went to many festivals and theatres, and gave rise to the collective Las Chatis de Montalbán.

Afterwards, she co-wrote and directed FUCK YOU MODERN FAMILY (2019) and Derecho a pataleta (2020), both of which premiered and had runs at the Sala Beckett. Her most recent work as a playwright and director is Del fandom al troleig, una sàtira del bla bla bla, premiered and performed at the Sala Beckett, Barcelona, and at Teatro de la Abadía, in Madrid. 

She is likewise co-creator of the series AUTODEFENSA (2022), produced by FILMIN and Boogaloo Films, which was selected for festivals such as the Sevilla European Cinema Festival, l’Alternativa and Series Mania. It was also nominated for various awards, including the Feroz Awards and the ALMA Awards. Prieto currently is working on new theatrical and audiovisual projects, exploring the limits of playwrighting and contemporary creation.

Team Credits

· Playwright and Director: Berta Prieto

· Cast: Belén Barenys, Laura Roig and Berta Prieto

· Scenography: Cecília Ruíz Baena