Bàrbara Mestanza suffered a sexual assault in a massage center in Madrid, but it was not until years later that, passing in front of the premises, then occupied by vending machines, that she remembered everything that had happened there.
"My partner at the time asked me why I hadn't done anything. I had kept that in the farthest part of my body and that night I started turning it over and over and I didn't sleep," explains the actress.
"Then I realized that if the person next to me questioned me, that meant that we are not generally prepared to manage and accompany a situation like this. And not only the people around me, but myself."
This is where the idea of talking about it in Dirty arose, which was first a theatrical piece that premiered in Girona in Temporada Alta and passed through the Teatro de la Abadía in Madrid and the Corral de Comedias in Alcalá, and now comes to the Akadèmia theater from Barcelona. It has also taken the form of a book, with the title of the same name, published by Plaza
"The play refers, in an unromantic way, to the entire process that I went through from that moment on," Mestanza continues, "looking for the answer to that question: Why didn't I do anything?"
For this, she has had the advice of several professionals, who have helped her answer that question: "Show after show, I open my entrails and my brain. It's like an open house, from total honesty."
Accompanied on stage by Pep Ambròs, Bàrbara Mestanza signs the dramaturgy and direction, and confesses that each performance represents a personal challenge for her. Dirty can be seen at the Akadèmia theater until June 11.
