Silvia Marsó (Barcelona, ??1963) feels as if it were the first time. And she has dozens of premieres. The Catalan actress who won the Broadway World Spain award with 24 Hours in the Life of a Woman has been rehearsing for weeks. At all hours, this newspaper can attest to how difficult it is to talk to her. With more boards than a galleon, Victorina premieres on October 18, sharing the stage with Gracia Fernández and under the command of Marc Vilavella. The work pays tribute to the set designer Victorina Durán, founder of the Las Sin Sombrero collective and who was forced by Franco’s Spain to take her talent and wind of freedom to Argentina.
I attest that there is conscientious preparation, but are there also nerves before a premiere or in your case this no longer happens?
A lot, because this is not just a play but a musical theater play and that involves very elaborate extra work. And of course, we have an impressive text by Eva Hibernia; It is not easy at all because it is a text with a lot of data, very Valleinclanesque.
The set designer Victorina Durán had to go into exile and in Argentina she managed to be director of the two most important theaters for 16 years. Why should we be interested in it?
Because she was a silenced woman, being a precursor and an impressive cultural activist: she was founder of the Liceo Femenino, of the Círculo Sáfico in Madrid and was at the origin of Las Sin Sombrero in Madrid. All this in the 1920s. She was an outstanding student of Valle Inclán, who served as her mentor. She was also a student of Julio Romero de Torres and was in the same class as Maruja Mallo, Gregorio Prieto and Salvador Dalí, no less, at the San Fernando School of Fine Arts, a close friend of Lorca, Margarita Xirgu, and Cipriano Rivas Cheriff. . When the war broke out and things began to be so unlivable, Margarita Xirgu called her to go with her to do the installations in Buenos Aires. Victoria took her entire family, including her father’s orphaned nephews because he had died in the war. She was a very empathetic, altruistic and defender of freedom woman.
A declared lesbian, she was part of the Sapphic Circle and the Women’s Lyceum Club. They were the 20s of the last century. It seems unbelievable that it has taken us practically a hundred years for the term “openly lesbian” when referring to a public figure to not generate scandal.
Imagine in that context, what it must have been like for those women, the Hatless of that generation of ’27, in which there were painters, set designers, writers, novelists, educators, humanists, philosophers, etc., some cultured women who had to leave from Spain because they went for them when the Dictatorship came. The most serious thing is not only that Victorina defended sexual freedom in such a vehement and free way, but also everything that the following generations missed: my mother, I and my son have lacked the female references of a generation that was changing. the world. The meetings at the women’s high school were held to change laws, to bring initiatives to Congress through Victoria Kent or Clara Campoamor, who although they were different in their approach, in Congress they provoked a necessary debate: from the female vote to many others. things to eradicate from our Spanish sexist culture.
You come from making L’Emperatriu del Paral-lel, before La Florida, Yerma de Lorca… What is the reason for that look at the past?
Yes, yes, I am a producer together with La Barni Teatre and Cassandra Projectes. Because justice has not been done with the women of the generation of ’27, because our leaders were silenced for life. I was born and raised without any female reference in my school textbooks. If there was any, it was foreign.
Why did you choose to be an actress, devote yourself so much to theater and, on top of that, invest your money as a producer with all the risk that entails, instead of starting a promising career as a television presenter? A path that would have given you much more money.
When the private television stations came out, almost offensive salaries were being considered in exchange for exclusivity: they wanted me as an exclusive presenter for one of them, I am not going to say which one out of respect for other people who did accept it. They paid me whatever I wanted and I said no. So, just as it sounds.
It was a brave decision.
Well, I guess so because I’m not exactly born rich. She was a girl in her twenties and it was more important for me to learn as an actress from the great teachers. I was lucky enough to work with Marsillach, Tamayo, Narros, Amparo Rivelles, María Jesús Valdés, Manuel Galiana… Learning from the greats, studying and from humility, from step by step, establishing myself as an actress and being able to face increasingly more characters difficult. That is the only challenge I have ever sought in my life. I have not sought money, fame, popularity or glamour.
Did you consult with anyone before deciding to take that path?
At that time, I was represented by Damián Rabal, Paco Rabal’s brother, and he supported me completely, thus giving up a huge salary. She told me ‘Silvia, if you want to be an actress all your life you can’t be famous on television – at that time it wasn’t called media, but simply famous – because then the public won’t believe you when you act in Yerma or play a dramatic character.’ . And that’s what I thought too, giving up a blank check. I have as much respect as that for the acting profession.
How is the Del Toro Blues Band project going?
Oh very well! On November 12 we give a concert at the Municipal Theater of Barberà del Vallés, on the 24th of the same month at the Teatro de las Esquinas in Zaragoza and on the 26th, in El Escorial.
Why did the blues call you?
I have always liked black music, always, since I was little. I discovered her with a Duke Ellington record from my grandfather, although I didn’t know who she was, of course, I found out later. He played it over and over again. Then I found another one at Luis Armstrong’s house and the same thing, Ella Fitzgerald, the great divas… And when I met Dani del Toro, the leader of the band, well, I felt the call. He called me the blues because like flamenco, which I am also passionate about, it has a lot of emotion; So much so that I think he is more connected to actors than singers. Both styles are born from pain, from injustice. They are two musical genres created to seek beauty, justice and freedom.
You separated and we didn’t find out. Have you been in a relationship again and we haven’t found out?
Obviously (laughs). The press respects me a lot and I thank you. I believe that those who do not want to do so do not appear in gossip magazines. Everything that appears… Sometimes they are montages that celebrities themselves put together to pretend that they don’t want to, but everything is concocted. I have always kept my personal life a secret and I feel very proud of not having mixed my loved ones with my profession.
Well, I’m going to an open grave: are you in love?
Ehm… Well no. Let’s say I’m like Saint Teresa: she married God and I married the performing arts (laughs).
