The director of the Barcelona theater Francesc Nel.lo, one of the kindest and most appreciated characters on the Catalan scene, has died at the age of 94. The artist was also the father of saxophonist Dani Nel.lo, writer and translator David Nel.lo and geographer, urban planner and politician Oriol Nel.lo. Francesc Nel.lo i German, who left his mark on the history of modern Catalan theater, not only as a director but also as a playwright, scenographer, translator and teacher, was one of those unusual people of whom everyone has a good opinion and who aroused unanimous appreciation, even affection. No one who had the chance to know him, to work with him or to be his student at the Theater Institute, like the one who signs these lines, will fail to feel upon hearing the news of his death an immense sadness mixed with great gratitude for his generosity and the affable and kind treatment that he always gave him on all occasions. He was a good man and it is impossible not to smile melancholy when remembering him tall, elegant, well built, with his white hair and mustache and who looked at you with so much humanity behind his glasses.
Francesc Nel.lo, who was especially distinguished in the golden age of independent companies and in the recovery and reconstruction of Catalan theater in the agony of Francoism and the return of democracy, was the son of the famous designer and scenographer Francesc Nel.lo i Ventosa. Despite the context, as Guillem-Jordi Graells recalled in a gloss following the tribute that the Theater Institute dedicated to him during his 91 years, he began by studying philosophy and moving towards writing, publishing in 1958 the collection of short stories, The pell and the magna. Soon, however, he was attracted to the theater and studied at the Escola d’Art Dramatic Adrià Gual, where he took his first steps as an actor and director and met most of the names who would renew the stage panorama of the country, people like Ricard Salvat, Fabià Puigserver, Josep Montanyès, Hermann Bonnín, Feliu Formosa or Josep Anton Codina.
With Formosa, he created the Gil Vicente group then with Fabià, in 1966, the Grup de Teatre Independent (GTI), with which he created in 1967 an adaptation of The Marriage of Figaro by Beumarchais that in 1989 the Teatre Lliure took over under the direction of Puigserver and the translation by Nel.lo himself. With the GTI, he produced other shows like The dialogues of Ruzzante, The lower fontseither The ship. With the youth section of the GTI, L’Òliba, he directed several productions which established a new model of children’s theater: The comedy of the olla, El metge a garrotades, the farce of meter Pathelin or if successful William Tell.
Nel.lo was one of the professionals recruited by Bonnín since 1971 for his refoundation of the Theater Institute, where he was a theater professor until his retirement and where he led numerous workshops. In his gloss, Graells points out that in these workshops where several generations of renowned actors and actresses watched the weapons, there was never any shouting or fighting, unlike those of other great directors. The truth is that it was impossible to make Nel.lo angry and angry, and when you became well, he would simply lower his glasses a little, look at you and just frown thoughtfully and calmly ask you to explain the problem to him, so the waters always returned to normal.
Francesc Nel.lo has produced shows such as Mr. Puntila and his servant Mattiby Brecht, participated in the legendary Grec de 76, co-directing an O’Casey, Red roses for meand acted as advisor to Bonnín himself when he directed the Center Dramàtic de la Generalitat, where he carried out a Peer Gynt. His edits also include Little educator Rita, Specters, or several sessions of the poet’s Paraula cycle at Lliure, such as the one dedicated to Blai Bonet.
Graells also recalled a facet of Nel that tends to be forgotten, that of his participation in the birth and development of television in Catalan, first in the Catalan circuit of TVE where he acted as scriptwriter and adapter of Catalan works and coordinator of programs for children and young people (to whom he signed had the invaluable opportunity to play an average bear in a Gold Rinxols with Manel Dueso and Oriol Genís, whose career has progressed greatly). On TV3 he played the role of director in the recording of classical music concerts, a world he knew well since he had directed lyrical works at the Liceo and had produced productions with the Òpera de Cambra de Joventuts Musical.
“His death represents the loss of one of the masters of contemporary Catalan theater, a creator committed to the transmission of stage language and the construction of a critical and sensitive public for the dramatic arts,” the family said in a statement. The funeral of Francesc Nel.lo will take place on the 24th at 9:15 a.m. at the Sant Gervasi funeral home, the wake will take place today from 5 p.m.
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