Ignasi, a 70-year-old retiree, decides to learn to play the drums and hires Rita, a 25-year-old anthropologist who plays in a rock band and teaches classes to survive. The intergenerational friendship relationship created between these two personalities is the plot base of Cat Falling, the comedy written by Gerard Florejachs, which opens this Thursday, August 31 (8:00 p.m.) at the Aquitània Teatre, in Barcelona , and will be on the bill until October 1.
But Cat Falling, or Aka Katfolling as a figure in the subtitle, has a double appeal: Ignasi and Rita, the only two characters in the play, are played by actors Ricard Borràs (67) and Aina Borràs (27), father and daughter in the real life.
“I have been in the profession for 50 years and for me it is very nice to be able to give the generational relief on stage to my own daughter, although I have no intention of retiring, while my body lasts”, Ricard Borràs proudly comments to this newspaper. “In the family we always talked about working together in the theater when the opportunity arose, and that’s how it has been,” says Aina.
But also with this work the young actress can overcome a childhood trauma: “when I was little I wanted to play the drums, but my parents told me ‘any instrument except the drums’ because of not disturbing the neighbours. And now that I’ve graduated as an actress, I had to learn to play the drums for this play. They are connections between the stage and the family.”
Ricard Borràs, as well as being the protagonist, is the director. The music is by his son Roger and produced by Botarga, created by the actor himself and his wife Liza Frediani. “Being a producer is the only possible way to do what you want. Money is needed, but it is an exciting challenge, because if you invest badly it will be the last production”. Ricard explains, laughing, that this is his fifth theatrical production. Aina agrees with his father’s words “I would also like to be able to carry out what I want, but it is complicated, I have seen it in my parents. I have bet everything on being an actress and I realize that I lack training in marketing or economics, which are necessary to complement my work”.
Aina currently works in a theater company in English that performs in schools and civic centers throughout Catalonia: “It is very enriching and a great school, because we act five days a week and we do everything with a decent salary.” His father Ricard explains: “When I started in the 70s, I couldn’t imagine that I could make a living as an actor and I’ve been dedicating myself to it for half a century, on the other hand, young people today are very well prepared but they have no future because there is precariousness.”
In the 50 years of his career, Ricard Borràs has been part of the cast of film hits like L’orgia, theater hits like Glups! or El sopar dels idiotes or television shows like Makinavaja. “I’ve worked a lot -says the actor- and since I didn’t want to miss my children’s childhood on weekends they came with me on tour and since they were little they have lived the world of theater from within and not from external fascination”. “From a very young age I already knew that I wanted to be an actress by watching my father act, or by asking stagehands or the wardrobe managers.” “I have never pretended that my children are actors and the only advice I give Aina is to be herself”
But Aina could also have dedicated herself to the circus. She is the sixth generation of the Frediani family, well-known as acrobats and jugglers: “My nonna (grandmother) always gave us circus items such as stilts for Christmas so that we could develop a skill. And although I have not dedicated myself to the circus, she has given me rigor and discipline in my work, because if the artists are not artists, they can physically harm themselves.
