A crowded Victor Fernández Gopar ‘El Salinero’ Theater enthusiastically received the gift that the island of Menorca has given to Lanzarote within the cultural exchanges that are being developed for the joint commemoration of the 25th Anniversary of the naming of Biosphere Reserve for both islands.

The work represented, ‘Lucrecia o Roma Libre’, by the Minorcan author Joan Ramis i Ramis. It was translated into
Spanish specifically for its representation in Lanzarote. The text, written in 1769, is considered one of the jewels of literature in Catalan and one of the most important works in the neoclassical period of our country.

The work appears structured in five acts whose metric form is alexandrine couplets. As much for structure as for
the rhythm of the verses, the study of the psychology of the characters is of a high precision. The son of the dictator Tarquino el Soberbio, Tarquino Sexto, falls in love with Lucrecia, but she is deeply in love with her husband Colatino. When he offered himself to her and received the rejection, Tarquino Sexto wants to make her his in spite of the moral and the revolts that this can suppose in Rome.

“In short, this is the time / where you must decide, you must determine / if you want to die, if you want to reign”, threatens Tarquino to Lucrecia. The protagonist contains from the beginning a thematic component: the defense of virtue (virtue understood within the canons of the era in which the work was written) and the defense of freedom against tyrants.

Lucrecia is a work of estimable literary quality, nevertheless it can generate many interesting conversations about
what each of us consider as virtuous. Maybe, just maybe, those considerations don’t adjust to those expressed by
Ramis i Ramis, but in any case, the defense of freedom before the political power that emanates from his verses
could be extrapolated to any period of history.

The company responsible for giving life to the play was La Trup. Soon, the Lanzarote Biosphere Reserve will return
the gift to the island of Menorca, transporting to the Balearic island the play ‘The legend of the Burned Island of
Salvador Leal’ within the framework of the program for the 25th anniversary celebrations.