If you find yourself melancholy and listen to Mr. Bojangles, Nina Simone's song, its melancholy will be accentuated. But if you're euphoric, you'll feel even happier." With these words ended the interview that Xavi Ayén gave to Olivier Bourdeaut (Nantes, 1980), in February 2017.
The French author had just achieved great success with his second novel, Esperant Mister Bojangles (Salamandra), which was the first success in a life of failures, as he himself declared at the time. The novel was translated into many languages and was an international success.
Paco Mir explains that his wife bought it at an airport: "It was a small book, with an attractive cover. The whole family liked the novel so much that the pressure at home was very high for him to turn it into a play. Then I saw that Victoire Berger-Perrin already had the rights in Spanish and I adapted it in Catalan, moving even further away from Bourdeaut's novel".
Mir also signs the direction of Esperant Mr. Bojangles which is performed at the Poliorama theater from February 2 to March 24. Sílvia Abril and Lluís Villanueva play "a couple who are really crazy", explains Mir. "From so much love, a daughter is born, although in the novel it is a son. Maybe it's a prejudice, but I think that at this age there are better actresses than actors, because she has to play the role of a 30-year-old and also a pre-adolescent", she declares in reference to the character of Lua Amat, an actress from Barcelona born in 2004.
"Lighting and sound are very important, they are two more characters", emphasizes Mir, who praises the music composed by Jofre Bardagí, the soundtrack by Marçal Cruz and the scenography and lighting by Mariona Ubia. "There are many scene changes, based on minimal changes, which are possible because we count on the complicity of the viewer."
"This marriage creates a parallel world, much funnier and much more interesting than reality, but there is a moment when the mother gets out of hand", explains Abril about her character.
And Villanueva adds: "When reality is sad and boring, it's better to invent a good story." He meets his wife at a congress and immediately realizes that she is a peripheral woman. All this is tinged by a mental illness that she has and that will gradually be discovered". And Amat explains the character of the daughter: "She is the nexus between the story and the audience. We address the public directly, in a very cool connection".
Mir considers that there are three levels of reading for the public: "The daughter is the puppeteer who tells the story and moves the characters. Inside the memories, there is the diary that the father wrote. And the third level is seeing what happened, which is a mix of the two. I don't think it's based on a true story, but there are always little biographical notes that pop up."
The adapter and director describes it as a dramedy. "It starts as a comedy and goes round and round, and ends up making you laugh, but also brings a tear to your eye," he concludes.
