‘The magic of Platero and us’, at Estudio Paulsen, is an invitation to you to listen to your inner child again (with a magical staging)

The original script of this work by 70 minutes took shape after several reading, rereading and rediscovery of the text Platero and me (1918) between playwright and actor Lucho Mueckay and the theater director Carlos A. Ycaza.

From these creative encounters came tears, moments of nostalgia, hugs, smiles and toasts; but the theatrical genius also sided with the artists to inspire them to decipher how to transfer the verses of the Spaniard Juan Ramón Jiménez (1881-1958) into a libretto.

Under this new form that Estudio Paulsen has given it, will be presented from tonight The magic of Platero and us in the intimate theatrical setting, located at the entrance to Numa Pompilio Llona Street (Las Peñas district), with features Monday to Thursday from 8 p.m..

“I’ve had this book in my head since I was 15 or 16 years oldwhen a friend gave it to me, and it is one of the lyrics that marked my existence, because It connects me to a life process that has always accompanied me, even in my work after I became a communicator.because it is wrongly labeled as a book or story for children, and it never was for me,” recalls Ycaza, who He brought the original idea of ​​the play to Mueckay to give it a stage structure.. “It is an autobiographical reflection of a great writer whom I admire.”

Mueckay received Jiménez’s book during his early yearsalthough he admits that he understood it deeply in his adolescence, when the text was one of the literary assignments given to him by his teachers. “I read it in one sitting”to remind.

To interpret the script, they rely on a group of actors in which the only one has a defined role Benjamin Cortés as Juan Ramón Jiménez, and from whom The voice functions as a transversal guide before the appearance of the other interpreters, Steff Alarcón, Daniel Ernesto Ortega and Hanoi Mueckay.

“The argument He is someone who returns to the city where he once had to say goodbye to his friend Platero.says Mueckay. “And he returns to remember those places, characters, anecdotes and festivities he had as a child. Now that he is an adult, he reunites with his childhood world through memories”.

The other actors serve as well recreate the author’s various memories. “They are ‘lightning’ characters. They represent something: a circumstance, an atmosphere, an attitude, a momentand they leave.”

The assembly is completed with live music from Nerio David and his guitar, with different themes that the artist brought to the montage they spread out and connect to the plot.

“For Juan Ramón Jiménez, childhood, as a facet of human existence, must accompany the adult until his death. Man must not lose this hidden child, who more than anything has to do with a sensitivity to everything that is existence, not to mention animals, as is the case with Platero, who is the axis“, adds Ycaza.

Wondering if the donkey will be present in the piece? Yes. The public will be able to see and feel the easel in the Paulsen Studio, but they will have to be there to find out how.

What is certain is that it is thanks to this piece Platero will have many more friends: us.