Mariano Pensotti and Grupo Marea premiere on Saturday in Dumont 4040 “A voracious shadow”, with an unavoidable Hamletian reference of being duplicated on stage. The question for the real person whose life is transformed into fiction and what happens to an actor who faces the challenge of narrating that life.
“Independent theaters are not just a place where works are presented, they are community spaces where one sees theater, you take classes, classes, together with other people, have a bar to chat about life, art and politics. This was a crucial moment to be part of that network,” says Mariano Pensotticonsecrated playwright and director that premieres “A voracious shadow”, On Saturdays at 8:00 p.m., in Dumont 4040.
This is the first work of Pensotti and the Marea Group in premiering in Argentina after the success of “The years” In the Martín Coronado del San Martín room and marks the return of the group, after almost twenty years, to an independent room. 20 years of the work of the work are also completed “The tide” (2005).
With the actions of Diego Velazquez and Patricio Aramburuthe work had its world premiere (in French version) at the prestigious Avignon Festival in 2024 and then, in 2025, the Austrian version was released at the Vienna Festival.
He addresses the life of a climber, son of a famous mountaineer who disappeared trying to reach the Summit of Annapurna in 1989, when he was little. In 2017, with 40 years and before retiring, Julian wants to try to complete the escalation in which his father died. While in 2021 a film about what happened to Julián Vidal In that ascent, the actor who embodies this climber will experience a change in his life. The scenography is in charge of Mariana Tirantte, The music is by Diego Vainer and the lights of David Sverses. We talked with Pensotti
Journalist: Where did this story about mountaineering and feats or mountain failures appear? What attracted you to that universe?
Mariano Pensotti: I have been obsessed for a long time with real news that they say that following the climate change and deleter of snow in mountains, lost bodies of escalators have appeared for decades. I seemed strong that image of nature by returning the dead, violated by climate change. I was always interested in films based on real cases, what happens to people whose lives are films based on seeing that fictional portrait of themselves. And what happens to the actors when representing real and living people. To what extent one thing transforms the other. Thus this story arose about a mountaineer who is about to retire by repeating an escalation made by his father and disappeared in Nepal. From that something unexpected happens and a film is filmed around that.
Q.: Here you explore the question of reality and representation, that construction that in “the years” had to do with time and also the different resources because on the screen there was a documentary, what can you reflect?
MP: There is something more extreme in relation to reality and fiction. The whole work is fictional but presented as a false biodrama where someone exposes their life on stage. Here the alleged real person tells that and an actor acts and makes a fictional version on the climber. There is contrast in how the real story was and as the film was modified to make it more dramatic. What happens to a real person whose life is transformed into fiction and what happens to an actor who faces the challenge of embodying and narrating that life. How a life is told.
Q.: What other issues appear?
MP: It is a story of parents and children because the relationship of the climber appears with his father but also with his son; The actor also has a particular relationship with his own father. The title “A voracious shadow” has to do with a multiplicity of interpretations, with a Hamletian reference as long as the shadow part of the idea of double, because it is clearly like seeing the real duplicate person on stage all the time.
Q.: What other inspirations appeared when writing it?
MP: The book of the Italian poet Petrarca, “upload to Mount Ventoso”, which was written in 1336 and is considered the first to talk about the ascent to a mountain. It is written as a true story and description, but recently it was discovered that Petrarca had never risen and it was all fiction. That is also something presented as real and that is actually fiction.
Q.: They return to the independent theater after 20 years with the group, how is this experience?
MP: By random we create this smaller work in scenography and only for two actors, which is very focused on the performance. It was a work that could be done in the Independent but we were also interested in returning to this circuit at this time. It is a time when culture is under attack and especially the theater suffers. We always function as an independent company but we did it in the officer and abroad. Always work self -managed and collective and that remains the most interesting theater that is done in Argentina and in Buenos Aires. It is to be together and create alternatives from the Independent.
Source: Ambito
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
