Josep Maria Pou: "Roald Dahl won't back down from his criticism of Israel, even if they want to withdraw his books."

Josep Maria Pou's (Mollet del Vallès, 1944) fascination with the theater is unstoppable, and despite his long career, he continues to seek out the best plays, both as artistic director of the Romea and as a performer, to perform them himself: The Goat, The Parent... and now he's premiering Giant. The performance tells the story of an afternoon in 1983 when writer Roald Dahl, author of Matilda and the Unforeseen Stories, asked his editors to retract a review in which he criticized Israel for attacking Lebanon. La Vanguardia speaks with the actor about this play by Mark Rosenblatt, in which he is accompanied by Victòria Pagès, Pep Planas, Clàudia Benito, Aida Llop, and Jep Barceló, and directed by Josep Maria Mestres. At the Romea, from July 5 to August 3.

The play premiered in London at the beginning of the season and nine months later arrived in Barcelona, ​​translated by Joan Sellent. Where did this immediate initiative come from?

It's mine, and I take full responsibility for it. The first thing I do every morning is read all the information about the premieres in Paris, London, New York... The New York Times, The Times, La Vanguardia... In July of last year, I read that the Royal Court was programming a play by Rosenblatt based on this Roald Dahl episode, and I asked to be allowed to read it. But I was told that until it premiered, it wouldn't be possible.

Roald Dahl in the middle of a conflict between Israel and Lebanon?

It wasn't widely known here, but it was a disaster in both the United Kingdom and the United States. And it's a very topical issue: Palestine, anti-Semitism, and so on. Personally, I was struck by the fact that he was a man who was 1.98 m tall.

We do an emergency feature on Arabs and Israelis, which shocks the viewer. Josep Maria Pou

And how tall are you?

I'm 1.95m tall, so it seems as if the author wrote it for me. He was already called a giant when he was very young; there are all these stories titled with that word, and I thought he could be a good character. When I read the script, I thought it was an extraordinary performance, and above all, it seemed like the performance that needed to be done at this time. I wish we could have put it on in 24 hours, because it's an emergency performance. Unfortunately, the Arab-Israeli conflict is still very much alive.

How was the London premiere?

I saw how the audience vibrated; they were impassioned. The performance seemed almost more like a public debate than a play, which is one of the purposes of theater these days: to open debate. What happens in the performance shakes you so much that it forces you not to be passive. They're still performing it in London.

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Rosenblatt fictionalizes an afternoon in 1983 at Dahl's home with his editors, based on real events.

Roald Dahl was already a literary superstar, but he's going through a difficult time in his life. He's recently divorced, living with his former lover, and in severe physical pain from war wounds. He was an RAF pilot in World War II and was shot down three times. All of this shapes his character. In the wake of Israel's invasion of Lebanon, a book of photographs was published, which he reviews, and he lashed out at Israel. This attracted so much attention that every newspaper in London and New York reprinted his article. It was a huge scandal, to the point that some bookstores, especially Jewish ones, began to say they would no longer carry his books.

And the editors are asking you to retract your comments so as not to lose sales?

Exactly. But he refuses, because that's what he believes. They call him from every newspaper, but he doesn't give in. And that's what Rosenblatt explains, mixing real and fictional characters.

It caught my attention that he was 1.98 m tall, and I was 1.95 m tall, so it seemed like a role made for me. Josep Maria Pou

Cancel culture existed long before, but in a different world than today.

Now the world is much more radicalized and globalized.

But Rosenblatt was not a playwright.

No, he's a highly regarded theater director and has been assistant director of London's National Theatre. He wanted to do a play on this subject and proposed it to several authors, but the authors were very afraid of it; they didn't want to get involved. And he saw that he had no choice but to write it himself.

Are you also a good playwright?

It's very clear that this is a play written by a man who is a theater director, who has a firm grasp of theatrical carpentry. He's writing and staging at the same time. He invents an urgent meeting at Roald Dahl's house, convened by his English publisher, Tom Maschler, who was the great editor of the time, the man who invented the Booker Prize. His current wife and his American editor are also there. They plan not to leave until they've convinced him to write an apology. The set presents a house under construction, because it's a time of change.

Was Roald Dahl consistent to the very end?

Yes, he did. The paradox is that his heirs, the foundation run by his children and grandchildren, finally apologized on his behalf a few years ago. It's worth remembering that, after Shakespeare, he and Dickens are the best-selling English-language authors.