"Gent d'ara" by Eduard Coca i Vallmajor is a stage comedy written in the early 20th century. It satirizes the clash between tradition and modernity in a Barcelona household where a stern shopkeeper father, Rimbau, demands his son Joanet join the family business while the son yearns to become an architect; Rosa, the level‑headed mother, is torn, as a pompous moralist (Don Ignasi), a sharp, ironic neighbor (Joseph), and Joseph’s literary wife Mercedes stir the pot. Expect brisk domestic skirmishes, witty needling, and a humorous portrait of “people of today” pushing against old certainties.The opening of this play sets the conflict in motion: in their old Barcelona flat, Rimbau scolds Rosa and condemns Joanet’s studies, enlisting Don Ignasi to preach parental authority, while neighbors Mercedes (a self‑styled intellectual novelist) and her sardonic husband Joseph drift in, trading barbs. Joseph quietly learns from the maid that father and son have already clashed, then counsels the arriving Joanet and his friend Lluis to stay respectful yet firm. A family gathering erupts when Rimbau publicly berates his son and even threatens violence, leaving Rosa in tears as Act I falls. At the start of Act II in the Vallcarca summer house, Don Ignasi pushes Rosa to side with the father, but she defends Joanet’s vocation; tensions simmer over lunch, Joseph and Mercedes bicker about her writing, Joanet bursts out over insults to his mother, and Rosa pleads for calm. Mercedes attempts a dramat…
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