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 jaula de las locas. A farewell on the same stage that saw him born and where he plays the leading role, the wonderful Zaza. But Lácer does not stop. As he bids farewell to this great success, he is directing the rehearsals of The Time and the Conways, by J.B. Priestley, in the TNC; continues to record Tu cara me suena programs for Antena 3; is preparing La Puntual for TV3, and will soon begin casting for the next musical, which will premiere in the fall: The producers. Under a youthful appearance, he confesses that he will soon be 50 years old.
Where does he get so much energy?
I sleep many hours and, if I can, I take a nap.
He alternates all kinds of shows, but there is a good part of the public that only knows the more humorous side of him.
I did The Castaway, I did Victor Frankenstein… I like doing theater because I can do many things. But there are actors who you already know what they will do to you, who do not surprise you. That is why, for Mrs. Conway, I have chosen Màrcia Cisteró.
He returns to Barcelona to close the five years of La jaula de las locas with the theater almost full.
This means that there are people who have not seen it yet, and some who repeat it. Success is made by people who repeat, like The Little Prince, which has been a Christmas phenomenon for ten years.
To what do you attribute the success?
To do things well. We have to make it perfect. You can like it or not, but the quality has to be there. It is brutal 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.
Is there sincerity in The Cage?
When Zaza sings “jo soc com soc”, I used it to insist on the dancers to make them see that everyone is the way 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 company important?
It is fundamental. In addition, the producers of Madrid and Barcelona want a headliner. And I’m lucky that, because I’m known, I don’t need to look for him and I can form good company with the people I want. I choose the artistic talent, but also the talent of teamwork, that there is cohesion.
On April 13, El temps i les Conways will premiere at the TNC. Why did you choose this work?
I get carried away. I like family plays and here is a well-to-do family, which does not say things and there is a lot of slyness, and I think 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 Much Ado for Nothing at the National, I told Xavier Albertí, then the director, that I wanted to do Els Conway afterwards, even though he hadn’t seen Mario Gas’s production. But Albertí told me no, that it was “a work with many traps”. The director of the TNC, Carme Portaceli, knew I wanted to do it and called me.
Have you spoken to Mario Gas?
I called him asking for permission to do it and he said yes, but added, jokingly: “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 made Mein Kampf in 1999 and with him my first musical. This assembly will be like a tribute to my two teachers.
Is he 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’s not that I’m sentimental, but I am all the people I’ve ever met, because they’re all in me. There are people who forget their past and think they are somebody. And this is not so.
And after the TNC, he returns with a program on TV3.
We will do La Puntual, based on Mr. Esteve’s L’auca, to popularize the Catalan classics. Last year we made The Wolf, with Terra baija. A theater dissemination program to see how it is rehearsed, who might be interested? Well, it was an unexpected success, because theater is very present in Catalonia. Then we did a tour that was heavily criticized by the profession. If you do things, people turn against you. It’s the only thing we do: we do things. If you don’t like it, make them yourself.
Was it your idea?
Yes, a long time ago. I like that people come to rehearsals, because it’s like cooking, it’s a process. When my grandmother made paella, the spectacle was to see how she made it. If there is an audience at rehearsals, we make mistakes together, 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 job.
Is there more censorship now?
I think that if I see Gone with the Wind, I won’t think that a black guy, I mean black guy, should wind me up 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 must 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 must see him. Then everyone has their family to explain to them what life is like. In life you will find many sons of bitches and you have to know how to spot them. A world where everything is beautiful is a world of lies. The only thing that is achieved is to glorify mediocrity. They don’t have to protect you from everything; they have to teach you weapons so you can protect yourself.
