The multi-award-winning show in tribute to Paquito Jamandreu returned in the summer

The multi-award-winning show in tribute to Paquito Jamandreu returned in the summer

“Paco Jamandreu said that he was talking on the phone with Fanny Navarro or Zully Moreno and they were fighting shouting, but he tells it with a love and sweetness that makes you laugh a lot,” evokes Nicolas Martin, who embodies Jamandreu in “Paquito (head against the ground)”, of Juanse Rausch, with dramaturgy Natalia Casielles and music from Teo López Puccio.

The show, winner of the María Guerrero and Teatro del Mundo awards, is presented on Thursdays at the Metrpolitan Theater and evokes moments in the lives of Paco Jamandreu, stellar figure of national entertainment for four decades, emblem of fashion, gay icon and artist. Songs, impossible memories, café-concert numbers, stars of the national scene and unpublished anniversaries woven together by the thread of memory run through this work.

It has performances by Maimar Abrodos, Lucía Aduriz Bravo, Nicolás López Barrios, Paola Medrano and the guest artist during January, Mariano Saborido, with Sebastian Sonenblum at the piano We talk with Martin.

Journalist: What is attractive about playing this enormous character?

Nicolas Martin: The appeal is to bring to mind a personality that was part of our cultural identity. Above all for being one of the first homosexuals to openly militate his sexuality on television in a context that was very oppressive. It is very exciting for me to play someone who participated strongly in the fight for rights that I have today. One of the texts that excites me the most in the work is “because of what we were, now you can be.” I think it is fair to remember Paco like this and, personally, it fills me with pride.

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Q: Which of its facets captivates you the most?

NM: Paco had a very fine and very genuine bond with his aunts. Imagining Paco as a child is an exercise that helped me a lot to think about the performance. Imagine him being hugged by one of his aunts or feeling very protected. One of the texts from his aunts is “Paco move your hands as much as you want”, I imagine him free and happy. Paco-nephew is one of the facets that captivates me most about the character. That’s where his vulnerability and tenderness filter through.

Q.: How do the poetic landscapes of Puig, Perlongher and La Noy come into play?

NM: The work introduces a queer political perspective. The poetics of these authors dialogue in that sense. In addition, the landscapes that are created orbit the “faggot” as a way of inhabiting the world. In fact, they are also named as a kind of heroes and examples to follow.

Q.: What can you tell about those anecdotes and ghosts that appear as his aunts, his lovers, his models, the shows, Evita?

NM: The character is built through partial cuts of anecdotes and appearances. That seemed to me from the beginning to be a very intelligent mechanism by Juanse. Because there is always a hidden side in the work. There are no definitions of Paco in the work, no historical data or formal composition are sought. There are only colors, fragments and many of those fanciful ones. I think it is the most faithful way to tell someone’s story, without trying to define them and approach their biography through certain textures. This goes hand in hand with Juanse’s scenic vision; this procedure can also be seen in his new work Saraos Uranistas. Weaving the story through anecdotes and links with other characters and imagining other possible endings than the ones we remember.

How is your friendship with Coca Sarli, Fanny Navarro, Azucena Maizani or Evita shown?

NM: I think her friends are the adult Paco’s aunts. A safe haven that also enhances it. I would have liked to be friends with Paco, I imagine him to be fun and faithful, one of those friends where you screw around but come back for sure. That’s how it was with Fanny Navarro for example. He said that they talked on the phone and got into shouting matches, but he tells it with a love and sweetness that makes you laugh. Similar to how he spoke about Zully Moreno. I love acting these scenes with Lu Aduriz because no role is the same as the other and she, playing Zully, is the one who transforms Paco into the showman that he was. What Coca Sarli brings to the table is different, as he called it his best friend. There the play makes a break and the power of Maiamar Abrodos transforms the scene into something epic and very exciting. After that number, the texture of the work already changed and Azucena Maizani appears where Paco asks to be reminded of her. Here appears a claim for memory and a call for attention in that sense. And finally Evita appears to save him, as he himself recounted in his book. Evita’s composition is a mix of her aunts and friends. He appears as the older ghost, without a defined body, and he is grateful because he is the one who gives Paco a new ending, brings him back.

Q.: The production proposes a small catwalk theater and in the play there is music and songs. How was this monologue constructed from an artistic point of view?

NM: Seba Sonemblum’s music work was masterful in staging. The leverage of the texts with the piano is fundamental in the final dramaturgy. The procedure was mostly improvised by Seba during rehearsals, putting together a kind of musical amalgam of what the texts and performances proposed. This is how this kind of hybrid between a musical, with songs by Teo Lopez Puccio, and a café-concert was put together, where Sebastian’s work is a cornerstone of the work.

Q: How do you see theater and culture today?

NM: I think we are in emergency for more than one factor. There is a trivialization that proliferates more and more due to the poor evaluation criteria regarding what is quality art and simple junk entertainment, which ends up confusing. Which is exacerbated by abandonment by the authorities that govern us, who normalize and crystallize thought. Leaving out creativity, debate and the proliferation of new aesthetics. But I also see people committed and strong enough to participate in the cultural battle, which becomes more complex every day.

Source: Ambito

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