Playwright Juan Mayorga: “It is a fact that my texts are not fixed and I never consider them finished”

You must explain to me how you gave José Luis García-Pérez to direct the text of “Friendship”, how it was possible for him to correct it to the bottom of the scene while they were rehearsing. it’s published now and still keep fixing it even more.

I would talk about “continue working” before “fixing”. As you know, I never finish a text, I always clash with them and find opportunities to continue thinking about them and understanding them over and over again. I have sometimes said that I publish and premiere my work so that others can help me understand and rewrite them. He has a very special complicity with José Luis García-Pérez: we are friends and on the other hand I am lucky enough to lead him in “El cartógrafo” and “El mago”. When he reads the play and decides to direct it, we begin an unfinished conversation and we both discover secrets. On the other hand, if it can be said for any piece, it has a special meaning for “Amistad”. Because? Because in this work, three characters are playing a game and one realizes that, just like in chess, it is necessary to change only one move – in this case, to change a sentence or an action – so that the whole game is over. For me, this experience has been fascinating. I’m on the street and I’m thinking: “And now instead of what they said, did Ufarte or Manglano or Dumas say something else? Or did he do something else?”

And the players will say, “Hey playwright…”

No no. Because they are extraordinarily mature, intelligent and virtuous actors and very accomplices. So on the contrary, they also participate in that constant conversation, and of course they are complicit rather than submissive. Sometimes I make offers that don’t interest them, they explain why, and most of the time I see that they’re right.

Because you don’t see yourself as a dictatorial writer, do you?

Well, I’m pretending I’m not. Not as a writer, not as a director, or anything else. I think it is very nice that this work called “Friendship” was made by some friends, because I see all three of them as my friends and I feel like friends. The realization of this conversation we are talking about with you is out of respect. The truth is, in any case, one of the most appealing aspects of this series is that we can see three amazing actors: it’s hard to find such a good cast on Spanish stages.

So the philologist who decides to correct a text as “Friendship” will have a hard time.

Well, on the other hand, these transformations, tension, and ghostly character of the text may also arouse curiosity, I say for some enthusiasts, for some academics. It is a fact that my texts are not fixed and I never even consider them finished. I think at one point Borges said—I’ll misquote—that the concept of definitive work only applies to religion or sloth. He said something like that, and I think once again old Borges was right.

Surprisingly, his involvement in comedy was surprising.

I really don’t know if “Friendship” is a comedy. I don’t write by genre: the characters that guide me and the situations they live in. True, when “Friendship” began to be read, there were some who did it with a smile, and they even told me they laughed a little. It’s true that this show makes you laugh, there are audiences who laugh at the actors, but I’m not sure it’s comedy.

But he talked about humor in his work.

Humor in my work is not rare, if not dominant. In “Darwin’s Tortoise”, paradoxically, in “Himmelweg”, “Fat and Skinny”, “Intense Blue”, “Alexander and Anne”… look, you find works that have humor in them.

It seems to me that an academic from Hispaniola, the “Princess of Literature” should appear cautious.

(Laughter) It reminds me of an award that was very dear to me. My week in Asturias made me think that the reward is the love of the people of Asturias. The truth is, it was a week of lots of laughter. It is true that there are some who take a certain seriousness to me, and pieces like “Friendship” can surprise them.

He’s said it before: he had directed García-Pérez twice and Daniel Albaladejo twice. Are there “Mayorga children”?

I wouldn’t have said it: I wouldn’t have dared to say it. Rather, I would say that I am an “Albaladejo child”, a “García-Pérez” child, or a “Ginés García Millán” child. I met García-Pérez three times: To “El mago” and “El cartógrafo” we must add my version of “Tenorio” directed by Blanca Portillo. Enjoyed like a dwarf in “La lengua en piezos” and “Reykjavik” with Albaladejo. I met Ginés at an event I wrote for Helena Pimenta on the occasion of Salamanca’s cultural capital, but we had not come to share such an experience. The fact is that the complicity between the four of them stands out: it is noticed on the stage.

Did you go to rehearsals?

No no. I wish it was, but I only went to a few rehearsals. I’m pretty busy running the Teatro de La Abadía, so I haven’t been able to attend as many rehearsals as I’d like. The conversation we had with José Luis García-Pérez before doing different readings was permanent. Then I was able to see many functions and the truth is that I am very happy with the result they achieved.

How do you read reviews that say Mayorga is not what we expected?

I appreciate all criticism. What matters is what you do with the criticism. You can do something good out of a bad review – in the sense of a bad review. You can learn something from all the criticisms. And speaking of a critique centered on death, I think it makes particularly sense to say that what doesn’t kill you makes you fat. I want to say that I read everything with interest and curiosity. If you ask me what this play is about, of course I would say it is about friendship but also about theatre, childhood and death. As I re-read and saw it, I realized that it was closely linked to my other parts.

I caught him finishing a premiere at La Abadía.

“Mother’s Courage” by George Tabori. Directing the Teatro de La Abadía, in this case accompanying the work of others, such as the beloved Helena Pimenta, and at the same time attracting the attention of the Spanish audience to one great playwright, such as Tabori, who is not so well known in our scenes. It’s fascinating to me to do this kind of work.

How do you align this with the pre-production of your next work, “María Luisa”?

“María Luisa” emerges from a conversation I had with a friend of mine who is the doorman of a building, and she tells me that she advised a lady in her building to write more names in the mailbox to keep them from thinking she was alone. And that’s where my imagination kicks in. I’m very, very excited. There are Lola Casamayor and Marisol Rolandi in the female roles.