Ellos is coming towards the end of its run.
It has had a curious existence.
On the one hand, the public has reacted in a way I would never have anticipated. The show has been running for over six months. The reaction has sometimes been remarkable: the show has touched people in ways you never quite anticipate it might in the making of it, when the process is all-important.
That it should have flourished within what remains an insular culture is something, I like to think, we are all proud of. The paradox of the play is that it is a piece about immigrants within a society where the notion of the immigrant is more associated with events of half a century ago than today, in contrast to large parts of the world that I have known.
On the other hand, the theatrical 'medio' has by and large ignored the show. Normally you do something and you anticipate that those you know working in the business will be your chief defenders, but very few have been to see it and their reaction has tended to be neutral, at best. The piece, with its multiple scenes and cinematic structure is fomally challenging, in addition to the fact the subject might feel alien to what can tend to be a slightly introverted scene. (It is, after all, in the nature of theatre to look inwards, which has its benefits as well as its drawbacks.)
The dialectic of these twin reactions is intriguing. Montevidean theatre can be innovative and bold. At the same time, it frequently possesses a cerebral quality which peversely resists a strong emotional bond with its audience. Theatre remains a minority sport in the city, with a slighly elitist bent. The experience of Ellos makes me wonder whether there the 'medio' is not more disconnected from its 'publico' than it would like to believe.
Obviously I also cannot help wondering how the play, or a local variant of it, (as it is a devised piece), would have been received in other cultures which are more receptive to the notion of immigration and, dare-one-say-it, diversity. Something I shall never know.
Anyhow, this is by way of resume. There are now only three shows left. We have lived with the production for the best part of a year and it has been a gratifying experience. However, yesterday, when I wasn't there, the show received the following commentary from a Spanish audience member. It's in Spanish. The fact that I'm writing this in English and the following is in Spanish kind of sums up my own disconnected, schizoid existence, which no doubt contributed strongly to the play's genesis and development. Nevertheless, I wanted to reproduce it here because this message alone is sufficient to have made the whole project worthwhile, and in some ways encapulates whatever the mission of the play has been. To talk across frontiers, to make connections in spite of distance, and so on.
I would also like to thank the audience member for sharing their thoughts; reminding us of why, when we set out at the beginning of the year to construct this play, we believed it mattered.
It has had a curious existence.
On the one hand, the public has reacted in a way I would never have anticipated. The show has been running for over six months. The reaction has sometimes been remarkable: the show has touched people in ways you never quite anticipate it might in the making of it, when the process is all-important.
That it should have flourished within what remains an insular culture is something, I like to think, we are all proud of. The paradox of the play is that it is a piece about immigrants within a society where the notion of the immigrant is more associated with events of half a century ago than today, in contrast to large parts of the world that I have known.
On the other hand, the theatrical 'medio' has by and large ignored the show. Normally you do something and you anticipate that those you know working in the business will be your chief defenders, but very few have been to see it and their reaction has tended to be neutral, at best. The piece, with its multiple scenes and cinematic structure is fomally challenging, in addition to the fact the subject might feel alien to what can tend to be a slightly introverted scene. (It is, after all, in the nature of theatre to look inwards, which has its benefits as well as its drawbacks.)
The dialectic of these twin reactions is intriguing. Montevidean theatre can be innovative and bold. At the same time, it frequently possesses a cerebral quality which peversely resists a strong emotional bond with its audience. Theatre remains a minority sport in the city, with a slighly elitist bent. The experience of Ellos makes me wonder whether there the 'medio' is not more disconnected from its 'publico' than it would like to believe.
Obviously I also cannot help wondering how the play, or a local variant of it, (as it is a devised piece), would have been received in other cultures which are more receptive to the notion of immigration and, dare-one-say-it, diversity. Something I shall never know.
Anyhow, this is by way of resume. There are now only three shows left. We have lived with the production for the best part of a year and it has been a gratifying experience. However, yesterday, when I wasn't there, the show received the following commentary from a Spanish audience member. It's in Spanish. The fact that I'm writing this in English and the following is in Spanish kind of sums up my own disconnected, schizoid existence, which no doubt contributed strongly to the play's genesis and development. Nevertheless, I wanted to reproduce it here because this message alone is sufficient to have made the whole project worthwhile, and in some ways encapulates whatever the mission of the play has been. To talk across frontiers, to make connections in spite of distance, and so on.
I would also like to thank the audience member for sharing their thoughts; reminding us of why, when we set out at the beginning of the year to construct this play, we believed it mattered.
Hace 55 minutos
María Zanzara- Realmente nunca he hecho esto de enviar mensajes a las compañías, pero ayer les fui a ver al teatro circular y me ocurrió algo... Soy española, llevo viviendo en Montevideo algo más de un mes, vine para trabajar como becaria (una pasantía como dicen acá). Comencé la universidad en 2008, en el año en que arrancó la crisis. Ahí ya nos dijeron que el futuro estaba gris, y poco a poco se nos fueron arremolinando nubarrones negros. En 2011 participé en las manifestaciones de los indignados por el 15-M, acampé durante varios días en Madrid, a pesar de que tuve que desplazarme allí desde mi ciudad. Luché y protesté porque entonces pensaba que todo era posible. En 2012 empecé a trabajar, siempre como becaria, siempre con esa esperanza de que tal vez gustes y te ofrezcan un trabajo de verdad. En 2013 acabé mis estudios, me surgió la oportunidad de venir a Montevideo, y decidí salir porque en mi país, con un 57% de paro para los que somos menores de 25 años, las oportunidades eran más que escasas. Me dio rabia y me decepcionó pensar que la batalla de 2011 no había servido para cambiar esto.
Todavía no sé cuándo volveré a mi ciudad, o si encontraré trabajo acá cuando acabe mi beca. Y mi ciudad de allá ya no es mi ciudad, porque casi todos mis amigos se están marchando al extranjero en busca de una oportunidad. No me preocupa que el futuro sea incierto. Me preocupa que no tengamos futuro.
Ayer les fui a ver y creo que si les digo que me conmovieron me quedo muy corta. Me retrataron, de repente muchos de los diálogos, no sólo los del personaje de Manuela, sino también de los otros...reflejaban cosas que ya había pensado al venir acá. La sensación de que al llegar a Uruguay todo va a ser fácil, de que hay oportunidades, de que la gente es fantástica y acogedora. El desamparo de ver a grupos de gente en la calle y pensar que tú aún no encontraste el tuyo. La añoranza de las cosas grandes y de las pequeñas. Creo que hicieron un trabajo de documentación fantástico. Pero sobre todo creo que lograron transmitirlo de una manera que hizo que sintiera eso que llaman la catarsis teatral, y que yo traduzco en minutos enteros de tener un nudo en la garganta al acabar la función... Me hicieron , y me harán, reflexionar muchísimo. Y sobre todo me hicieron liberarme y sacar de mí unos sentimientos que tenía guardados y casi ignorados. Quizá les suponga muy poco un simple comentario, pero sólo quería darles las GRACIAS.
