Another dysfunctional family but this time in comedy

Journalist: How did the project come about?

Mariano Martinez: I was looking for a comedy. The last thing she had done was with Arnaldo André, Betiana Blum and Flor Torrente, and there were things on television, but she wanted theater, however the pandemic put us on standby. Meanwhile they offered me things but I was clear about what I wanted to do and nothing appeared. Until Nicolás Cabré called me about a comedy that he had read and that “was for me”, I started looking for the rights and couldn’t get them. I went to see Carlos and Tomás Rottemberg, I told them that I wanted to do it and Nicolás was going to direct it, something I didn’t tell him about. The next day Nicolás asks me if I said that he was going to direct and the rights were held by Juan Caballé, the same man from “Me duele una mujer”, where Nico was. Production quickly progressed.

Q.: Cabré, how is this new experience in directing?

Nicolas Cabre: When we started putting it together they knew it was my first time as a director, despite that both actors and technicians showed me respect and predisposition, they ended up giving me the last little push I needed to cheer myself up. As an actor I was always half involved, I am always trying to change things, and here I felt that vote of confidence that others had towards me. From the first meetings I left with the feeling that they listened to me, at no time did they take an exam. That ended up making me believe that I could achieve what they had summoned me for.

Q.: The work premiered in London in 2005, how valid is it and what changes were made to adapt it?

CN: It’s rare for a work to come to you and you don’t have to play almost anything, it was ready to do, and even more so with its age. It has no reference to idiosyncrasies, it did not have to be Argentineized. The work has white humor, aims directly to amuse, is based on these brothers who arrive and drive the third party crazy. The author starts with that humor but turns into vaudeville, going through the absurd. The work does not intend to leave a topic for debate or lower the line, it aims for the public to come and laugh at the madness of this poor guy.

Q.: What is the main strength of the work?

mm: It is well written, it made me laugh when I read it, it deals with real situations and many absurdities arise from there, but they start from the truth. It’s a little watch, it’s for the whole family. Q.: How do you see the theater scene in Buenos Aires?

CN: We are waiting for the old normality to begin, for it to return, we have been hit by the pandemic. Last year we premiered “A Woman Hurts Me”, she bet on an opening and the regrowth hit us. Never since the pandemic has it been possible to start a year normally, that is why there is so much replacement and they are seeing when this starts and if it ends up settling down. There is hope and illusion that everything ends up working out. The theater has not finished building its footing, it seems like it was a long time ago but it is still hit.

Q.: You say that the theater is the most hit, what about the cinema?

CN: The cinema has already been hit by the platforms and is changing in the midst of a transformation that we have yet to understand. The platforms are the most viable option and the cinema is becoming more nostalgic. The theater is something ancient that is inexplicable, it is a ritual, getting dressed to go to the theater and the actors there generating a magic that cannot be replaced, thank God. It’s an event almost like going to church. If it is televised, you cannot capture the essence of what happens there. Cinema and theater are not comparable, that sensation of having the public in front of you. As for the cinema and the theater, they also differ in terms of time, for a shoot you have to have long days of filming, something that is difficult for me today. I’ve been locked up for three months, on the other hand, theater gives me the freedom to do what’s good for me, like taking my daughter to school, going for a run or playing sports.