Opinion: The imagined ad

By María de Lourdes Falconí Puig

Ad, free version of the work The chairs by Eugène Ionesco, will be presented this Wednesday, November 17 at the La Bota room (Malecón del Salado), in a single function supported by the Municipality of Guayaquil, with free admission. This tragic farce, written in 1952 by the Romanian playwright and writer, is the source from which it draws Virgilio Valero to propose a stage show now, when Gestus Rehearsal Theater celebrates 33 years of life in the theater. The theme, addressed in the last century by the representative of the so-called Theater of the Absurd, continues to knock on the door insistently until today. The days have passed … and having crossed the millennium, the human difficulty to communicate with the other persists.

In the background on the stage is a double-leaf door, each with a window. Ahead, two empty chairs. The characters: El Viejo and La Vieja, live their retirement alone on an island. Both wear a white shirt with suspenders and a kind of black skirt-pants, similar to a hakana (piece of clothing proper to kendo, the martial art of the sword). The costumes take them out of the conventional categories while unifying them, as if they were a single person, as if instead of a communication between two, it was a talking to the mirror … a fight, a duel with oneself.

The speech is repetitive and stale, like the stagnant waters of its environment. Sometimes the Old Man speaks and the Old Woman echoes him; others are entangled in sterile discussions.

“You are very talented, dear. You could have been chief president, chief king and even chief marshal if you had wanted to, if you had had a bit of ambition in life. “ -La Vieja tells him, while she encourages him to broadcast his announcement to the whole world.

The actor Bernardo Menendez and the actress Elena Cáseres they give life to the couple, in a fluid dynamic and with a good rhythm. The movement through the space intensifies as the story unfolds, going from door to door each time the bell rings to receive guests, or carrying chairs from one point to another, investing a good dose of energy. The tension in the scene – and in the audience – is increasing as the time to give the announcement approaches.

You have to pay attention to the dialogues and actions because in them the announcement is decanted. The work has the power of metaphor: the boats that collide with the island, transporting the guests -invisible characters who are arriving to occupy empty chairs-. The house is filled to the brim with men and women who flock from everywhere; Among them, La Bella, El Coronel and El Emperor. In the interaction with the latter, the leading characters reveal their mental constructions due to their relationship with the figures of power… showing an exacerbated and painful courtly attitude.

Everyone eagerly awaits the arrival of El Orador, who has been expressly hired to give the aforementioned announcement to humanity, since El Viejo does not feel capable of giving it himself. Of the invisible characters, only El Orador has a physical presence on stage, played by actor Milton Gálvez.

Receipt Ad as an incitement to shake ourselves from the delusion of wanting to be ‘something’ in a system of stagnant structures; of orphanhood, for having abandoned the mother and killed the father; of disconnection with what is, plainly. Leaving the small island to throw ourselves fully into the vast, uncertain sea … and alive.

“Oh, you are so talented, dear, so, so, so talented! You could have been something in life, much more than a janitor ”. (OR)

Artistic file:

Adaptation and direction: Virgilio Valero

Performers: Bernardo Menéndez, Elena Cáseres and Milton Gálvez

Production: Theater Essay Gestus

Space: La Bota Room, Malecón del Salado

Format: Theater

Genre: Tragic farce

Duration: 60 minutes (O)