Jaume Melendres (Martorell, 1941 - Manresa, 2009) was a playwright, theatre director and professor, critic and specialist in dramatic art. After going to Paris and obtaining a doctorate in Economics his professional life soon changed direction to focus on literature and theatre. After 1973 he worked as a lecturer in Dramatic Theory, Acting and Directing at the Theatre Institute in Barcelona. In 1964 he received the Salvat-Papasseit Poetry Prize for La doble espera de l'aigua i tu (The Double Waiting of the Water and You, 1967) and, in 1966, the Josep Maria de Sagarra Prize for Theatre with Defensa índia de rei (King's Indian Defence, 1975). He also wrote Meridians i paral·lels (Meridians and Parallels, 1977 – winner of the Josep Aladern Prize). With Joan Abellan he co-authored the play El collaret d'algues vermelles (The Necklace of Red Seaweed – winner of the City of Granollers Prize, 1979 and the "Serra d'Or" Critics' Prize, 1980), and wrote the novel La dona sense atributs (The Woman without Attributes, 1990 – winner of the Prudenci Bertrana Prize, 1989). In the domain of fiction he also published El cavall no és de cartró (The Horse Is Not Made of Cardboard, 1973), Un avió damunt dels vidres (A Plane over the Windowpanes, 1983) and Cinc mil metres papallona (Five Thousand Metres Butterfly, 1975). His essay La direcció dels actors (Directing Actors, 2000) is of particular relevance in the field of theory of theatre.

He wrote regularly as a theatre critic in such publications as Tele-Exprés and Fotogramas. He also translated, adapted and directed works by such authors as Goldoni, Molière, Oscar Wilde and Tennessee Williams, inter alia.

He was a member of the Associació d'Escriptors en Llengua Catalana (Association of Catalan Language Writers – AELC).



Web page: Toni Terrades Oliver for AELC.
Documentation: Toni Terrades, Spei Macià and Biblioteca de l'Institut del Teatre.
Photograph: from the work ©La dona sense atributs. Barcelona: Edicions 62, 1990.