“The work does not speak of the problem of this authoritarian and mass-producing teacher but is a criticism of the educational system”, says Juan Pablo Geretto, who offers two unique functions of “Normal teacher” at the Astros today and tomorrow, before embarking on a tour of the country. We spoke with him.
Journalist: Is it true that that teacher once apologized to you for trying to “twist” your life?
Juan Pablo GerettoMy kindergarten teacher did me a lot of good, although it is true that she told me quite a few things. Later she admitted that she would never tell any child what toy to play with again. Although one hangs out with people who think like one, there are circles where nothing has changed yet.
Q: You released it 14 years ago, did you have to update it for this rerun?
JPG: I worked on the text quite a bit and we came to the conclusion that nothing needed to be changed because nothing was resolved. The problems are still exactly the same or have worsened.
Q: What is that character like?
JPG: The teacher is authoritarian, militarized, verticalist, mass-producing, full of clichés, reiterating what has been said and done for generations and which is not working. People enter the teaching profession instead of doing something else with their lives; being a teacher was never a profession to earn money, it always had a prestige that was lost. That took away the joy. In the end, nobody contributed much to education in the long term.
Q: How do you see the theatre today and the drop in audiences in September?
JPG: It is a very low September compared to previous years, Corrientes Street is spasmodic, we cannot venture to make predictions for a few years now, there are times when it surprises for the better and other times for the worse.
Q: How was the experience of “Exit”?
JPG: Behind closed doors it was divine, the girls and I had a great time, we had a lot of fun, that is success for me at 50 years old, getting along with my colleagues, laughing, doing something we believe in, not betraying each other and if one has a good time, the objective is achieved.
Q: Being an actor is neither your calling nor your passion?
JPG: Of course it’s not my passion in life, it’s a job. For some actors it may be, it’s difficult to get into the business, people coming to see you and for me these are things that came naturally to me. There are times when you get into a mood where you create the environment, as if it were the most important thing in your life, that if you’re there it’s because you want to be there, and a little bit yes, but I’m also there because I’ve done well and I know how to do it. There’s not much.
Q: You’ve been in series but you haven’t been on TV or in film for a while, why?
JPG: They don’t think much of me in productions, but I would love to. They also offered me things that I couldn’t do because of the theatre. It’s hard for me to do things at the same time, but I’m grateful if that’s the case. I haven’t done much film work, but I love it.
Q: How do you see theatre and culture?
JPG: Difficult. Argentina is so atypical, every 4 years someone comes with ideas from scratch and you can’t build anything like that, not now or before. We have to review ourselves, the institutions we vote for, how we control, we should have distrust in power and ask them to be accountable all the time. The rift didn’t help anyone, I always define myself as lukewarm, I’m willing to sit down and talk instead of shouting from my place because it doesn’t happen to me in life, all the people who weren’t willing to talk left. You have to be self-critical, I was always nonpartisan, in that sense, I didn’t commit myself ideologically to anyone, I vote on ideas and then you have to control what they promised. Those who are considered right-wing didn’t betray me, they did what they said they would do, and the others that I liked more for their speech later did not agree between speech and action.
Source: Ambito
