‘Ayoub’: on the irreverence of romantic love and the decadence of the West | Culture

“I am not Roberta Marrero”, we hear at a certain point in the work. And it is also made clear to us that the issue is not about feminism or the acronyms LGTBIQ+ and “those topics that can guarantee that you are scheduled right now in Europe”. First leap: towards what is so necessary (the fight for equality) when it becomes a trend. And from this place, where the author is performer it underlines, rather than warning us, it launches one of the many irreverences that make up Marina Otero’s (Argentina, 41 years old) stage autofiction discourse. Without proof of wanting to provoke, like someone who doesn’t want it. Then one of the successes of this work becomes clear: the ability to question oneself as if one did not want to.

On this occasion, with the absolute preview of Ayoub at the Madrid Autumn Festival, That round trip which implies putting one’s life at the center of the artistic dimension, that is, placing oneself personally to reach, with a bit of luck, the universal, the Argentine creator goes beyond the purely autobiographical to arrive at political and human denunciation, in a more clear and serious way than in previous productions.

To her mental health problems, her obsession with a man who can save her from loneliness (one of the most courageous and uncomfortable undertakings against what she has sometimes called “feminist correction”), her tendency towards romantic love, violence and self-destruction (“I would like to have love, but I have anger”, we hear), we add in this new montage the devastating moment that humanity is experiencing due to the genocide suffered by Gaza and all those masks that fall to reveal a rotting West (“you are as old and rotten as Europe. In this sense, an anecdote about the inclusion of words and phrases like “genocide” and “Free Palestine” in a show, and the recommendation not to do so by a German programmer, begins the work and defines a context (scenic, vital), cleanly and very effectively With only a couple of elements, including Otero’s immobile body.

Ayoub follows the format of previous montages in which the performer tells how the work is born and how it is constructed, which can be seen through texts, home video projections, photographs and screenshots of conversations. Although with much less dance or practically none compared to the previous pieces. As if even his body (very elaborate, defined, fit) rebelled against what could be expected of him on stage and was reduced to keeping his word. Even to shake her, like when she turns into a metal singer and it’s overwhelming.

A few years and a few plays ago, the author decided to turn her life into a play. So he created the project Remember to live, which he intends to continue to nourish until the end of his days, and has included works such as Andrea, fuck me, love me AND Kill me, the latter three with whom she was known in Spain. And although with this discourse of autofiction Otero does not discover scenic or performative places nor does he reach places that have not already been visited 140 times since the time of “I am the performance” by Marina Abramovich, not wanting to defend anything, or at least so it seems, crystallizes in one of the greatest successes. There is no obvious pose, and although the text sometimes borders on the cliché, overall the difficult truth of bringing life to a stage is achieved. Without the exhibitionist provocation, it’s even more difficult. But like that “hair in the cottage cheese or fart in the elevator”, written by Lorrie Moore.

The seventy minutes of this conference performative They follow one another at a good pace in an agile, coherent dramaturgy that naturally combines the multiple themes covered. The final twist is a bit prolonged, where the possibility of an imagined life occupies space through actor Ibrahim Ibnou Goush. After going through the Replika hall in Madrid (today the 15th is the last day), Ayoub will travel to the Estación Alta festival in Girona on November 22nd with two shows (at 6pm and 10pm).