It's been ten years since the four of us were alone, and we're doing monologues again, like those in Petits contes misogynis, so we're going back to the essence, but from another place", explains Marta Pérez. "They were the stories of Patricia Highsmith, which is the first show we put on, in 1991", adds Àgata Roca. With Mamen Duch and Carme Pla they are T de Teatre. The four actresses reason with La Vanguardia at the Romea theater, about to premiere La dona fantasma, by Mariano Tenconi Blanco.
"In the four monologues, plus a joint scene, we talk about the nieces of four teachers from the seventies," continues Roca. "However, here we use different narrative materials, such as letters, newspapers, poetry..., which the director suggests", adds Pérez. "Tenkoni works with music, and it's the first time we've done it", says Roca. "It's been tailored for us and it's like a glove," says Pérez, about the music by Ian Shifres, which Joan Palet and Rafel Plana interpret on stage.
T de Teatre went to find the Argentinian director, as they have done in previous productions, "because he has a sense of humor and a poetics with which we could understand each other, and even though we take a step further, at the same time we continue to talk of women, of universal themes, of the things that affect us and in which people see themselves reflected", says Pérez. "The four teachers go through complicated times, each one of their own, in a repressed social environment, and they want to break this repression, or they do what they can," explains Duch. But they will also find access to the time tunnel and go back to the 1920s, with some women who are rehearsing Macbeth and who are shot shortly before the premiere.
But who is the ghost woman? "We were going to explain it - answers Roca -. In the fourth monologue, which is given by Carme, she explains that the ghosts of these four women are in the theater where the play is being performed. And we take advantage of being at Romea to play the game with the ghost of Xirgu, who they say lives here." Duch adds: "In addition, each of the four teachers has their own ghost, which in my case is that of the mother."
Tenconi is the third Argentine director, after Javier Daulte and Ciro Zorzoli, who works with the T de Teatre. "As a company we like to work with directors who have a personal stamp - declares Duch - and with the Argentines there is a lot of connection and they have a similar sense of humor". "But we are drier", points out Pérez.
"There is a bit of humor in the play, with more emotional moments - says Pla-. What we like is for the public to go through all the possible registers." The production is by T de Teatre, the Centro Dramático Nacional and Teatre Romea, and although Tenconi has written the texts in Spanish, the play premieres in Catalan, translated by Sergi Belbel, who from the first assembly is always at your disposal For his part, "Tenkoni did an online Catalan course before coming to Barcelona", reveals Roca.
Pérez tells an anecdote that they experienced at a performance before Rubí: "I ask twice, with a pause, 'What is life for?', and a lady in the audience answered me: 'Life, baby, is for living -la!'I thought I could leave. I was very nervous and that put me in place."
Looking back, Plan highlights Delicades as the highlight of its 32-year history. Roca talks about the screening of the Jet lag series. And Duch remembers the success of Homes, especially in Madrid, where they stayed for a year. "The queue went around the street, when there was no internet". "And the success followed in Buenos Aires", recalls Pérez. The Argentine connection is already part of the success of this quartet of women with very clear ideas.
