Radicals Lliure, Catalunya's premier platform for alternative theater and performing arts, celebrates its fifth birthday this month and will honor the occasion with a brand new program of performances starting on May 4 at Montjuïc. Ending the exciting two-week bill is the annual Radicals Weekend, a three-day event that unites professionals from both home and away, encouraging exchange and interaction between artists working in and in-between the areas of theater, movement, photography, video, music and more.

Kicking off the weekend on Friday, May 13 are Colectivo 96° with Fingir, a piece inspired by the techniques used to fake theatrical kisses up until twenty years ago, followed by experimental drama collective Babazorro with an assortment of stories collected under the title of Extraordinario, a visual theater performance that will be playing every day of the fortnight-long program. Saturday, May 14 sees a selection of pieces mediating between music and the other arts, including play Home-Natja, written and directed by Jordi Oriol, and Hamle.T.3, actors and directors Nao Albet and Marcel Borràs’ exploration of human happiness and alien abductions.

While most of this year's performers are based in Catalunya or Spain, the cycle nevertheless includes foreign companies such as Completely Naked, the London-based visual arts group founded by photographer Pau Ros and painter and illustrator Claire Ward-Thornton. Their latest creation, Flashing Bodies Action Six: The Casting, sees their production team create uniquely styled live portraits featuring and inspired by members of the public, exploring personal identities within group dynamics.

The Radicals' party at the Bar del Lliure on Saturday night will no doubt give the cycle a great send-off before it closes on Sunday May 15, coming to an end with events including Paella, a meeting with the creators of various performances included in the line-up, and a performance by Catalan poetry duo Accidents Polipoètics, offering a free reading spanning two decades of their work.

May 13–15 (Radicals Weekend)

May 4–15 (Radicals Lliure)

TEATRE LLIURE. Pg. de Santa Madrona, 40–46 (Montjuïc).

teatrelliure.com/radicals