The actor and director Àngel Llàcer returns to the Tívoli theater in Barcelona to close the five years he has been touring with the musical La cage de las locas. A farewell on the same stage where he was born and where he plays the leading role, the wonderful Zaza. But Llàcer does not stop. While he says goodbye to this great success, he is directing the rehearsals of El temps i els Conway, by J.B. Priestley, at the TNC; he continues to record Tu cara me suena programs for Antena 3; he is preparing La Puntual for TV3, and will soon begin casting for the musical that will premiere in the fall: The producers. Under a youthful look, he confesses that he will soon be 50 years old.
Where does he get so much energy from?
I sleep many hours and, if I can, I take a nap.
It alternates all kinds of shows, but there is a good part of the public that only knows its most humorous side.
I did The Castaway, I’ve done Victor Frankenstein… I like to do theater because I can do many things. But there are actors that you already know what they will do to you, that don’t surprise you. For this reason, for Mrs. Conway I have chosen Màrcia Cisteró.
He returns to Barcelona to close the five years of La cage de las locas with the theater almost full.
That means that there are people who have not seen it yet, and some who repeat it. Success is made by repeat visitors, like El Petit Príncep, which has been a Christmas phenomenon for ten years.
To what do you attribute the success?
To do things well done. We have to make it perfect. You may like it or not, but there has to be quality. We talk about a lot of work, which is achieved by creating a team, which is like a family. We won’t be the best, but we have to be authentic, which is when you manage to make the audience fall in love.
In The cage, is there sincerity?
When Zaza sings “I am as I am”, it served me to insist on the dancers to make them see that each one is as they are and that everyone is different. Everything is positive, there are no negative feelings and it is a balm of happiness for the viewers.
Is the company important?
It’s fundamental. On the other hand, the producers of Madrid and Barcelona want there to be a headliner. And I’m lucky that, because I’m known, I don’t need to look for it and I can form a good company with the people I love. I choose artistic talent, but also the talent of teamwork, that there is cohesion.
On April 13, El temps i els Conway will premiere at the TNC. Why have you chosen this work?
I let myself go. I like family works and there is a wealthy family here, who does not say things to each other and there is a lot of sarcasm, and that is very Catalan. I tell them that we are not in Newlingham, in England, but in Granollers, because it is the same thing that happens here. When I directed Molt soroll per no res at the Nacional, I told Xavier Albertí, then the director, that I wanted to do Els Conway later, although I hadn’t seen the Mario Gas production. But Albertí told me no, that it was “a work with many traps”. The director of the TNC, Carme Portaceli, knew that she wanted to do it and she called me.
Have you talked to Mario Gas?
I called him asking for permission to do it and he said yes, but jokingly added: “You’ll do it worse than me.” I consider him and Carme Portaceli my teachers and I have a lot of respect for them. With her I did Mein Kampf in 1999 and with him my first musical. This montage will be like a tribute to my two teachers.
Are you sentimental?
My teachers have been Joan Enric Lahosa, Ramon Simó, Joan Castells and the two of them, and with them I have built my way of doing things. I am not who I am because yes. It is not that I am sentimental, but I am all the people I have known, because they are all in me. There are people who forget their past and think they are someone. And that is not like that.
And after the TNC, he returns with a program on TV3.
We will do La Puntual, based on L’auca del senyor Esteve, to disseminate the Catalan classics. Last year we did El llop, with Terra baixa. A theater dissemination program to see how it is rehearsed, who might be interested? Well, it was an unexpected success, because the theater is very present in Catalonia. Then we did a tour that was highly criticized by the profession. If you do things, people turn against you. It’s all we do: things. If you don’t like it, do it yourself.
Was it your idea?
Yes, from a long time ago. I like people to come to rehearsals, because it’s like cooking, it’s a process. When my grandmother made paella, the show was to see how she made it herself. If there is an audience at rehearsals, we make mistakes together, we laugh and lose our fear. I started doing it in 2011 with Madame Melville, with Clara Segura and Carlos Cuevas. I don’t know if we could do Richard Nelson’s play today, because it’s about a teacher who spends the night with a very young student. In rehearsals we expose ourselves, but that goes with our work.
Is there more censorship now?
I think that if I see Gone with the Wind, I won’t think that a black boy, I expressly say black boy, has to fan me during my nap. I know what I’m looking at and I can’t stand being treated like a jerk. It is a historical text and it has to be seen in its context. The dragon is not good, he is a son of a bitch who wants to kill the princess, and that is how we have to see it. Then each one has his family to tell him what life is like. In life you will find many sons of bitches and you have to know how to detect them. A world where everything is beautiful is a world of lies. The only thing that is achieved is to exalt mediocrity. They don’t have to protect you from everything; they have to teach you weapons so that you can protect yourself.
