“Now, theatrical life is to some extent structured by clans of friends”

It’s been 46 years since this happened jose sanchis sinisterra It was founded in Barcelona Seema TheaterSince the inauguration of 35 Beckett Room of the city, and since its end 25 Organization Dramatic. His spirit continued in Madrid, where he started corsetryA room that served as a laboratory and expression space for other theatrical creations, but the pandemic forced it to close.

And while all this was happening, the playwright didn’t stop writing hits. Hey Carmella The controversial film adaptation by Carlos Saura was most popular, but was followed by nose or lice and actors, siege of leningrad one of two reader per hour, The final which is presented from 24 to 26 November Abbey Theater From Madrid, within the framework of the Autumn Festival; There will be a dramatic reading of the final text in the Becket Room this 27th November.

a special autumn

talking about sinister is talking about Contemporary Spanish Theater, He has been a teacher of teachers such as Juan Mayorga or Sergi Belbel. Authors who are references now, as it was in their time valencian Which cannot stop from creating and training new talents. Now, unfortunately, with Less Space To display it.

The author hopes he is a staunch warrior autumn sinisterra Given the renovated Beckett Room in Barcelona dedicated to him, it helps to see the Spanish programmers he once helped still active. Even if they don’t want to, that is. He demonstrated this in this interview direct chronicle In which he confesses that he is preparing three works and hopes to reopen one new laboratory Where your own and others’ ideas are brought to life. That means continuing the work which started one day and which was never left.

24 years of ‘The Hourly Reader’, and what it continues to represent. What is its universality?

This is a tough question, because I want to know so I can try to replicate the formula in all tasks (just kidding). Because in case of Hey Carmella I think it’s because it’s very cheap and that makes it attractive. reader per hour It can be simple, rigorous at the staging level. But I do not know. I have asked myself many times, It was a work in which I experienced many things, among others, the structure in which the audience is asked questions from time to time and none of them are answered. I think that People like to be mentally active. Compared to many people who believe that everything should be given to the audience, it seems that this is not the case., Again, this work is a tribute to literature, it is an act of love for the novel. And, although it seems we are becoming increasingly graceless imagist, Devourer of images, novel, book, reading remains an important dimension of human being. I think, let’s go.

As he says, it is a work that leaves many questions and is meta-literary. What was their influence in your day and what is happening now that, as you say, they always want to answer to us?

I don’t want to put all the credit in the text. Part of the revival of work comes from combining carles alfaro, which is a very complex, very beautiful, very disturbing montage. I have some disagreements, but that’s art. I, Consensus in art would ban this, The work of the actors also intervenes, now the context in which the play has resurfaced on the anniversary of the Becket Room. Beckett Hall has become not only a driving force of Catalan theatrical life, but also a model for what non-commercial theater is.Nor 100% institutional.

You were one of the founders of Room. They devote an entire year to it. How has your relationship with Beckett been over the years? How much did it cost you to make the room? Do you see him changing a lot?

First of all, I see him changed a lot, thanks to his personal magic Tony Casares And his entire team. Over the years, he has learned how to surround himself with a very dedicated, very astute, very intelligent team. When I moved to Madrid, partly for family reasons, I decided to change my scenario, so I told my partner luis miguel clement, which took over part of the management to maintain it, but it was in IT. I was a little unsure what to do. And I must have gained some knowledge that made me think of Tony Casares, who was at the beginning of the Beckett Room, even at the Teatro Fronterizo, in the Bellaterra theater class. And I can’t stop congratulating myself for thinking of him. It has been an extraordinary success, And the facts I mention. The meaning of the Becket Room today lies not only in catalonia And in Spain, I would say also in Europe and a little bit in Latin America, it is very good.

At that time, it was said that there was a very grand theater in Barcelona. But was it easy?

Yes, there was a temporal factor that influenced Beckett’s flight. That was the time of fat cows. there was money in institutions and He believed that culture was a valuable thing that should be taken into account to strengthen democracy. Today almost no one in the institutional environment thinks about it., The example was that I returned from a trip to Medellin to charge my batteries. With the Teatro Fronterizo, we had a basement on Tollers Street, and then a bigger space in Sant Pere Más Baix, but It was not suitable for display, I suggested to my partner that we start keeping a room, Beckett, and things started happening. Suddenly, John Francesc Marco, who is now at INAEM and then wanted to be in the city council. Then came the Ministry of Culture, INAEM, and eventually the Generalitat also decided to support it. But I think it was very temporary. There was also a democratic political enthusiasm, and I think that was in our favor.

Is there anything left in it? I had said earlier that institutions earlier relied on theater to strengthen democracy. And now, once it’s cemented?

That time, Barcelona was the most cosmopolitan city in all of Spain, All the great figures of European and Latin American theater passed through there. It was a very rich and important point of excitement, which benefited all of us in some way or the other. And, now, it’s not so much, I think the opposite. On the one hand, there is a certain reluctance on the part of institutions to focus on these types of cultural projects. And then, Theatrical life is to some extent structured by clans of friends, Proof of this is that when, in 2010, I wanted to open a space in Madrid similar to the one we did in The Room, I did not receive any type of support from institutions. I settled in a temporary place, an old corsetry, and I had this illusion that, if we started doing activities that weren’t often done in theater at that time, institutions would respond. Well I’m still waiting for their response, So much so that I had to close my corsetry shop. pandemic, And there I have no room to set up a kind of center of research, training and creation in relation to theatre.

Does it hurt when this happens? And even more so when his works are premiered, he has been a teacher of teachers.

Well, on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays I get depressed. I say it’s Saturday, they won’t pass (jokes). My perception of this thing is very wavering. Now I have cooperated, which was kind of the core of the research that we developed at La Corsateria, but we’re on borrowed premises. This time, I don’t have a place where I can create a schedule to suit the projects coming out there., We received very important support in the ten years of Corsetry Le Monde Diplomatique In Spanish and La Casa Encendida, thanks to the figures of ferran montesa, Now the situation is not so open and, well, the scenario has changed. It’s not a disaster, but some of us are stuck there on the edge, I don’t know whether this almost posthumous tribute to Beckett will have consequences, but, for now, it hasn’t.

Does it have anything to do with betting on other things that you continue betting? Why do you do this?

It’s almost a mystery to me. For me, doing what I already know, repeating what I know works, doesn’t excite me. What excites me is exploring the possibilities of another language., Plus, naturally, the subject matter. Topics that are not only fashionable but also some that are outside of social, political or psychological reality do not appear in the theatre. so, I have three projects starting right now And in each of them I am discovering, experiencing other things, in collaborative, what I now call post-laboratory, in which people gather. And There are many things which the theater has not paid attention to.…I have a motto: No man is alien to the theatre. If nothing else, I start to explore neuroscience and I start to bring out aspects of it, the dramatic aspect and so on.

And then would you say that the institutions are not committed to this? Is it more difficult to find space for this type of theatre?

Honestly, this is hard for me. Not others. Perhaps because focusing on the internal aspects of dramaturgy, at both the textual, performance, and aesthetic levels, distances me from the desires of the potential audience. Don’t know. But As long as I’m encouraged to continue questioning what I already know and finding out what I don’t know, I’ll keep going. Until you collapse from exhaustion. But deep down I am optimistic. I think that We must create islands of solidarity and friction, Not everything is the same horror that surrounds us as in Ukraine, Gaza and many other places.

Is it easy to do theater in such circumstances?

I believe this is a necessity, because we do not fall into depression, selfishness or apathy.

Well, he said he was preparing something new. Will we see anything?

At present I am not able to see it. but this is true I am taking steps to settle in Madrid, in a space that was an alternative room, a studio where training, research, creation, production and exhibition could be combined. This would be ideal. At the moment, there are still no signs that this is going to happen., I will continue this as long as my body and mind last. Because it is second, years and diseases keep increasing.

In any case, after the pandemic crisis, are things getting better? Do you see the theater in better condition?

It has been exceeded. maybe this is the feeling lack of theater audience, which are also quite diverse and unstable. But they have felt a kind of need to regroup. The confinement imposed by the pandemic has evolved into a revival of theatre. At least I think there are still a lot of people out there. And above all, There are also many young people who still need an agora like the theatre, a place where collectivity becomes concrete, I would say physical, physical. These are the utopias I create to continue in the theatre. In the interval.

And after spending so much time in Madrid, I’m back in Barcelona for Beckett’s anniversary. How do you see the panorama of both cities?

it makes me feel like Theater is still very much alive in Barcelona, and alternative theatre. I feel that way too Creators of alternative theater have also established themselves or opened gaps in some institutional or commercial theatres. From Barcelona. There is focus on this kind of thing also. And, perhaps, in Madrid, at this time, it seems more difficult for private companies to commit completely to a theater in which success is not guaranteed.