“In life I met beautiful people and also frivolous people, caged in their own space full of artifice, where nothing is true or genuine,” says Karina Hepner, Author of “Latest luxury units”, that opens tomorrow at 20.30 in Callejón Espacio. Directed by Melisa FreundThe piece displays a complex network of relationships related to love and betrayal within an intimate social circle.
Starring José Escobar, Ariel Gigena, Natalia Imbrosciano, Mauro Pelandino and Hepnerthe work has movement design of Aymará Abramovichlighting design of David Seirascostumes and scenography of Escobar. We talked with Hepner and Freund
Journalist: Where does this question or slogan appear “how far we are able to arrive so as not to stay out”?
Karina Hepner: From my childhood I observe in the different social circles that transit this need to seem, of being part. Then finding one’s voice, setting limits, showing us true, sometimes becomes a great challenge. On several occasions I found myself with the dichotomy of staying or leaving, paying the cost of staying out.
Q.:QUé interested you of the material to want to direct it and how did you conceive of the set?
Melisa Freund: I was interested in the way in which the work combines humor and tension in a space as recognizable as a sum (multipurpose room) that here becomes a ring, a psychological and physical confinement. I was attracted to the absurdity of the situation: a group of people rehearsing a choreography while outside everything seems to fall apart. The set of that contradiction: bodies that dance while everything burns. I worked with the idea of a failed choreography, of a party that rots. I was also attracted to the production conditions, such as the actors (which were already selected by the author) and the possibility of setting up a work in a space as emblematic as the alley in which it is the first time I have the pleasure of working.
Q.: How does the germ of the work appear?
KH: With a first image where situations that appear to be light transform into dense, disturbing, fearful, showing second unimaginable layers. I transferred this image to a group of friends who rehearse a choreography to present themselves to a top -level amateur contest, and what at first seems to be something fun and relaxed ends up being modified by a circumstance that invades harmony and disorganizes them completely generating a lot of chaos.
Q.: How is this suffocating and explosive game, those cages catching those who inhabit them?
MF: The confinement is not just physical: each character is trapped in an image of himself that no longer works. They are the “last luxury units” of a system that no longer contains them or needs them. They and they are the latest luxury units. The game is suffocating because there is no way out, metaphorical or literal. And it is explosive because everything is said between lines, until it explodes. Humor appears as a defense mechanism, but also as evidence of the absurd.
Q.: What interested you in the world of betrayal?
KH: The treacherous people generate a lot of intrigue. The human psyche is a mystery and in this work I wanted to deepen that passage of the person in love, socially dear, kind, good husband, wife, father, mother, son, daughter, who betrays unscrupulously to another one or another with total impunity and coldness without being able to measure the consequences or dimension how they face those who trusted them.
Q.: What other issues appear in the work in addition to suffocation and confinement?
MF: The work speaks of emotional precariousness, of fear of failure, of the need for validation. Each character suspects others because, deep down, he feels in danger. The confinement is bodily and symbolic. And that mutual suspicion is the fuel that maintains the tension. No one is entirely reliable, but everyone is trying something that is deeply human: not to be alone.
Q.: What can you say about the artistic areas scenery, light, costumes?
MF: While the setting has a fairly remarkable degree of realism, we choose to work the scenery from a symbolic place, almost like a plastic installation that has a burden in itself. Regarding the lighting design, this kind of “no place” had to be created that are usually the multipurpose rooms of the buildings but at the same time a theatrical and attractive proposal. In addition, both work with the sound and the deliberate decision to build temporary ellipsis through blackouts, gives a uniqueness to the setting that is closer to something of the order of the film.
Q.: How is this social circle?
KH: All social circles are submundos within the world. I was part of social circles, which are somehow referenced in this work that today premieres. I met beautiful people and frivolous people, caged in their own space full of artifice, where nothing is true or genuine. And I say it in the first person because at some point in my life I participated in those groups, I was part of them until my interests began to be others. Hypocrisy prevailed above all. I participated, I felt part, I could know in depth, however, I have a positive look at people even in times of selfishness, betrayal and cruelty. With the writing of “Latest Luxury Units” I found a way to deepen those links crossed by betrayal and at the same time face them being able to cure the wounds that I suffered at some point.
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.
