Lucía Carballal (Madrid, 1984) is one of the authors and directors of the moment. His work Ourpremiered earlier this year at the National Drama Center, it arrives at the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya on November 21st.
When did you realize that you would dedicate yourself to theatre? I attended theater courses from the age of 15 and at 19 I wrote a play for a university group. I never left him again. When I left the theater I was disoriented.
Who are your three favorite playwrights? Anton Chekhov, Bertolt Brecht, Pascal Rambert. Although perhaps the most intimate impulse I found in some British playwrights of my generation: Ella Hickson, Alice Birch, Annie Baker…
Are there any classics you’ve discovered recently? A couple of years ago I wrote and directed a play with which a dialogue was established Lindabridis Castle of Calderón de la Barca, in the National Classical Theater Company. The Golden Age forces you to improve. I hadn’t watched it for many years.
Which text do you think is impossible to represent? Impossible, no one… Another thing is that there is no vein to enter through. It doesn’t matter, let’s go. This is a problem and as a director I would run away.
What do you find pathetic today? Well, we tend to be very childish, don’t we? Reactive rather than reflective. We ask our leaders for dialogue, and this is positive because it is their obligation; But it’s interesting to think, at the same time, how we react when we’re faced with someone who doesn’t agree with us. Listening is a very uncomfortable practice, it requires effort. The theater knows it.
What quality do you appreciate most in a theatrical text? It has always been said that a good theatrical text is one that manages to last, to pass on to posterity. I appreciate, however, the ability to move the present, especially now that we are so distracted. Convening the city, as Juan Mayorga says, inviting it to look at itself, is already an enormous achievement.
What’s the last comedy that moved you? The seagull by Chekhov, directed by Thomas Ostermeier at the Schaubühne in Berlin. The usher made a mistake and made me sit in the front row. I cried a lot.
What is the best compliment you have received for your work? “I would love to work with you again.”
And the most extravagant? Sometimes I’ve written characters with ideas or behaviors that cause me a lot of rejection and I’ve been told I did a great job. More than an extravagant compliment, it can be disturbing. Virginie Despentes talked about it after her trilogy Vernon Subutex and he said that writing the villain, playing the villain in literature, is a way to beat him for a while.
What book do you have open on your bedside table right now? I’m very late, but I’m reading The bad habit, by Alana S. Porter. It’s a wonderful book, as many already know.
One you couldn’t finish? Instructions for use on lifeof Perec. I felt like I had let down many friends for whom that novel is sacred…
Your favorite movie of all time? I saw A woman under the influenceby Cassavetes and I thought “that’s my favorite movie of all time.” 15 years have passed, now I could no longer categorically choose just one.
What was the last series you watched in one sitting? Thus, in an irrepressible way: The Messiah of Los Javis and See you in another lifeof the Cabezudo brothers.
Which song would you choose as a self-portrait? I listened to Patti Smith’s version of the song a lot. smells like Teen Spirit from Nirvana. The releases are love letters from one artist to another, I love them.
Which museum would you like to live in? Several from Berlin: the Neue Nationalgalerie, Martin-Gropius Bau, C/O… When I write a new work I go there for help. I have a very strong connection with that city.
What historical event do you admire most? Whatever my father-in-law, history enthusiast and great interlocutor, tells me.
What job would you never accept? I was given this advice many years ago and it is that, to accept a commission, two of these three conditions must be met: that it is artistically attractive, that there is time to develop it and that it is well paid. You can only compromise on one. If at least two of these three conditions are not met, it is better not to accept it (if you can afford it).
What is socially overrated? The urgency, the immediacy.
Which actor would you give the Oscar to? And which playwright received the Nobel Prize? I would give the Oscar to Annette Bening or Glenn Close, who are legendary and have never won it. And as for the Nobel… just for his work FiresWajdi Mouawad deserves it.
If he hadn’t dedicated himself to theater, he would be… I have no idea. I asked my wife. She says she’s an interior designer.
