sculptor’s daughter Jose Luis Zorrilla de San Martín, author of several monumental works on both banks of the River Plate -one of them the equestrian one by Julio Argentino Roca on the avenue of the same name and Peru, in Buenos Aires- and granddaughter of the “national poet” Juan Zorrilla de San Martín, creator of the “Tabaré” appears in old playbills as Concepción Zorrilla and even as Concepción Zorrilla de San Martín.
Her family nickname, “China”, became official when she settled in Buenos Aires, where from the beginning she was considered an artist of her own.
In addition to being an actress, she was a director, adapter, theater producer when she was needed and from 1973, already installed in Argentina, she helped several of her compatriots to flee in an unorthodox way, circumventing the border crossings of Uruguay, when a civic-military dictatorship that was foreign to the political tradition of the country.
Second of five children, the eldest, Guma (Gumersinda) was over the years an outstanding theatrical costume designer, who not only accompanied China on River Plate stages but also worked for the Uruguayan National Comedy and directors such as Omar Grasso, Norma Aleandro, Antonio “Taco” Larretaamong many, and responsible for the costumes for the Argentine films “I was never in Vienna” (1989) and “Kisses on the forehead” (1996).
China’s childhood was spent in Paris, where her father – a disciple of the sculptor Antoine Bourdelle– chose to work after winning the contest for the Monument to the Gaucho, which was installed in 1927 in downtown Montevideo.
That gave her a worldly character that never left her, even when she attended the exclusive Sagrado Corazón school in the Uruguayan capital and later when she joined the vocational theater group Ars Pulcra, belonging to the Association of Catholic Students.
There he debuted reciting in French “The Annunciation of Mary”, by Paul Claudel, directed by Román Viñoly Barreto, another Oriental who over the years crossed the Río de la Plata and became notorious as a filmmaker and author of films such as “Corrientes. .. dream street!” (1949), “The Beast Must Die” (1952), and “The Black Vampire” (1953).
In London she was a student of the great Greek tragic katina paxinou at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, thanks to a scholarship granted at the age of 24 by the British Council, and on the occasion he met at the BBC Rene Arturo Despoueyconsidered the founder of Uruguayan theater criticism, and the Alicante Jose Estrucha refugee from the Franco regime, later a teacher of great performers in Montevideo.
That European sojourn not only strengthened her as an artist but also reinforced her curious, restless and undeniably magnetic personality: she returned to her hometown in 1948, coinciding with Despouey, who lectured from her columns on theater in the weekly Marcha and other publications and with Estruch, who directed theater and served as a teacher, just as he had done after the war with 4,000 Basque refugee boys in London.
He made his debut with a leading role in “Una familia”, by Antonio “Taco” Larretaa fundamental name in the Uruguayan theater of the 20th century and a close friend of his, with whom he later founded the professional cast Teatro de la Ciudad de Montevideo (TCM), along with another hero, Enrique Guarnero, from the National Comedy.
From the outset, she was the grand dame of oriental theater – where, in addition to the Xirgu, Estela Medina, Estela Castro and the naturalized Argentine Maruja Santullo also appeared in the first category – and acted in more than 80 plays, especially at the Solís Theater and the Verdi Hall. , official scenes of the National Comedy until today.
As director, she came to command Xirgu herself, but she also received instructions from the Uruguayan Calderón de la Barca and the Argentines Armando Discepolo and Orestes Cavigliaseveral years established in Montevideo due to dissidence with the Peronist government.
This is how he appeared in “Bodas de sangre”, by García Lorca; “Macbeth” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by William Shakespeare; “Don Gil de las Calzas Verdes”, by Tirso de Molina; “A farce in the castle”, by Férenc Molnar; “The Slide”, by Jacobo Langsner; “Filumena Marturano”, by Eduardo de Filippo; “Everything is for the best”, by Luigi Pirandello; and her enormous success, “The Matchmaker”, by Thorton Wilder, which had not yet been transformed in the United States into the musical “Hello, Dolly!”.
In 1961 he disassociated himself from the official cast and co-founded the aforementioned TCM, a high-ranking commercial cast that worked in the now non-existent Odeón theater, near the Old City of Montevideo, where works such as “Exercise for five fingers”, “A hat full of rain”, “A mess and a marquis”, “Stubborn until death”, “The prodigious shoemaker”, with very select secondary casts. The company traveled all over the world.
In the mid-’60s she stopped her stage activity and went to live in New York to work as a secretary in a theatrical agency, teach French and establish a promoted romance with comedian Danny Kaye, about which there are doubts. She then met a young Dustin Hoffman, but she never thought that he would become the star that later turned out to be.
Upon his return and parallel to his theatrical activity, Zorrilla became a regular presence on evening programs on Uruguayan television, where he reeled off vivid or perhaps exaggerated anecdotes in his own particular way –he was very fond of fine humor and exaggeration- and managed to unusual audience ratings for that time slot.
He produced, translated, adapted and directed the operas “La bohème” by Giacomo Puccini and “Un ballo in maschera” by Giuseppe Verdi in Montevideo. And in 1975 he had the régie of “The Barber of Seville”, by Gioachino Rossini, in the old Teatro Argentino de La Plata.
At the beginning of the ’70s, when he arrived in Argentina, he produced a successful theatrical version of “Arlequino, servant of two bosses”, directed by his compatriot Villanueva Cosse, toured small theaters with his adaptation of “The Human Voice”, by Jean Cocteau –”Hello, hello…1,2,3″-, and fully integrated into the theater, cinema and television, to become a true diva.
In theater he played innumerable roles, for a time he formed a duo with Carlos Perciavalle -his compatriot and imitator- with whom in the early ’70s he premiered on Broadway “Songs to watch”, by María Elena Walsh, and with whom for years toured with “The Private Journal of Adam and Eve” by Mark Twain.
On TV he had great popularity through cycles such as “RRDT”, “Gasoleros”, “Enamorarte”, “Sleeping with my boss” and “Los Roldán”; and among the 35 films that she filmed in Argentina, “Esperando la carroza” (1985) and “Elsa y Fred” (2005, Cóndor de Plata as leading actress) are especially remembered.
She received numerous decorations, including the Order of May from the Argentine government, Chevalier of the Legion of Honor from the French government, Illustrious Citizen of the cities of Montevideo and La Plata, and even an honorary postage stamp in her country.
He said goodbye to the stage in 2011, at the age of 90, touring the country with “Las d’enfrente”, by Federico Mertens, directed by specialist Santiago Doria.
He died peacefully at the age of 92, on September 17, 2014 at his home, in an elegant neighborhood of Montevideo, how could it be otherwise.
By Hector Puyo
Source: Ambito
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