The performance by Rosa Boladeras i Domingo this season on Barcelona stages has been recognized with the 52nd Memorial Margarida Xirgu Theater Award, one of the most prestigious and veteran awards in the performing arts in the State. Created in 1973 by the defunct Carlos Lemos club, recovered in 2022 by Núvol magazine and the Federation of Amateur Theater Groups of Catalonia, the award distinguishes each year the best female performance of the Barcelona theater season.
Boadas has been recognized for her participation in the play Tinc un bosc al cervell (I Have a Forest in My Brain), premiered in April at Sala Beckett. The jury especially valued the great diversity of registers, the emotional power, and the interpretative commitment that Boladeras demonstrated in a particularly demanding production, in which she shared the stage with three underage performers. The play, a post-dramatic and polyphonic text by the Alicante author Guadalupe Sáez, emerged from one of the Benet i Jornet Grants from Sala Beckett, addresses the disappearance of children. The proposal, directed by Alícia Gorina, unfolded inside a transparent cube designed by the set designer Xevi Oró, while the audience followed the performance with headphones thanks to the sound space created by Guillem Rodríguez, a device that reinforced the sensation of intimacy.
The awards ceremony, where Boladeras will be presented with a plaque and a commemorative ring, will take place on July 20, at seven in the evening, at the Teatre Romea in Barcelona. The ceremony will be open to the public, although prior registration will be required to attend.
A consolidated career on stage and screen
Rosa Boladeras (Terrassa, 1972) trained at the Institut del Teatre and began her professional career in the early nineties with productions such as Final d'estiu amb tempesta (End of Summer with Storm), by Francesc Lucchetti, under the direction of Lourdes Barba, and El temps i els Conway (Time and the Conways), by J. B. Priestley, directed by Mario Gas. Since then, she has built a career of more than three decades that has made her one of the most solid and recognized actresses in the Catalan performing arts scene.
Throughout her career, she has worked with some of the most prominent directors of the Catalan scene, such as Mario Gas, Àlex Rigola, Magda Puyo, Josep Maria Mestres, Carlota Subirós, Carme Portaceli, Ferran Utzet or Jordi Prat i Coll, with whom she delivered one of her most significant performances as Antònia in La rambla de les floristes, by Josep Maria de Sagarra, at the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya. Beyond the stage, Boladeras is also a very well-known face to the general public thanks to her participation in successful series such as Poble Nou, Temps de silenci, La Riera and Com si fos ahir.
More than half a century recognizing Catalan theater actresses
The Margarida Xirgu Memorial Award has been awarded annually since 1973 in homage to the actress and director from Molins de Rei and has consolidated itself as one of the most prestigious awards in Catalan performing arts. Born from the initiative of the defunct Penya Carlos Lemos, it has distinguished throughout its history reference performers such as Núria Espert, Anna Lizaran, Míriam Iscla, Mercè Arànega, Clara Segura or Emma Vilarasau. The winner of the 2025 edition was Màrcia Cisteró. Since 2022, the award has been promoted by Núvol magazine and the Federation of Amateur Theater Groups of Catalonia (FGTAC), with shared organization with the Molins de Rei City Council and the Romea Foundation.
This year's jury was made up of four members of the Federation, who were Magda Garcia Martí, Josep Mayolas, Elisa Poch Tort and Josep M. Porta; and four critics from Núvol, who were Martí Figueras, Oriol Osan i Tort, Ana Prieto Nadal and Oriol Puig Taulé. The award winner will receive the traditional Xirgu Ring, an exclusive jewel established as a trophy in 1992 and created each year by a different jeweler. In this edition, the piece was designed by Carla Garcia Durlan thanks to the patronage of Joan and Sandra Llavina, with the support of Lexus. This ring embodies the tradition of Elizabethan theater, in which a veteran actor presented a jewel to a younger performer as a symbol of the continuity of the craft.
