For ten years now, the Argentinian playwright Nelson Valente has been one of the regular authors on the Catalan stage. His proposals are well received and now, taking a step forward, he has written a work about a Catalan family, designed expressly for the occasion. This is Amnesia, which premieres in the TNC’s Small Room (9/V-2/VI). “It’s a work where I touch on a new theme, which is that of a dysfunctional family”, jokes Valente, given that his works are characterized by this type of family.
Valente read a text by Buñuel that spoke of his mother’s memory and this led him to memories and personal references, and from this Amnesia has emerged. The playwright and director explains: “It’s a family that doesn’t quite know what to do with their memories. The anecdote is about these moments when the parents can’t stand up for themselves and have to be helped by their children, who can’t quite agree.”
Mercè Aránega is the mother of this unique family, “with diagnosed amnesia”, points out the actress. His children are Joan Negrié, “who left home to succeed”; Míriam Iscla, the middle daughter, who lives with her mother; and Victòria Pagès, “the daughter who only visits the family twice a year and does not have the emotional tools to take charge of this situation”, explain the performers. The cast is completed with Màrcia Cisteró, who plays the son’s wife; and Biel Rossell, the younger daughter’s new young partner.
Iscla summarizes the play’s conflict: “My character has the good fortune and the bad luck of living with her mother. She is a little lost in life, and has created mutual dependencies with her mother. He is the one who causes the conflict when he wants things to change.” And he adds: “With the director we worked on this drama, this tragedy, to get to the comedy. All the drama is there, but it doesn’t need to be seen.”
“I have experienced this situation with my mother – says Pagès -. Sometimes you live it with humor, because you can’t live a drama every day, it would be unbearable”. Iscla clarifies: “We don’t laugh at the mother who loses her memory, but with the mother. We never laugh at her. It’s a sitcom and, if we laugh at it, it’s because it’s cathartic.” “Theatre is very therapeutic in these matters,” says Pagès. And Valente concludes: “My therapist told me that I was fine with the situation I had because I knew how to make good use of humor. The aim of my look is for people to laugh for 80 minutes and for the last 10 minutes to reflect on what they have been laughing about”.
Amnèsia is a co-production of TNC and the Trono hall in Tarragona. Negrié, who also signs the Catalan translation, explains that this work “is a good way to close the twenty-year history of Trono”, and confirms that the room is now closing. In the autumn, they will spend the season in a small space, El Magatzem, while hoping to find a more suitable place, to continue their successful project.
