“Israfel, drama in two acts and two taverns”, so he called Abelardo Castillo to the work he wrote about the life of the American narrator Edgar Allan Poe. Published in 1964 and released two years later with Alfredo Alcon in the leading role, another version of the same piece is today worth remembering. It is the one that was being presented on January 26, 1977 at the La Botonera theater in Mar del Plata, under the direction of Rubén Benítez. When the play was closing the first act, a group of tasks entered the dressing rooms to arrest Charles Waitz, who was in charge of the role of the tavern keeper. “We want to pay tribute to this missing actor to whom we dedicate this show,” he says. daniel marcove a Page 12director of the recently released version of Israel in the Cultural Center of the Cooperation of Corrientes at 1500.
This work that Castillo wrote when he was just 24 years old not only deals with biographical aspects of Poe but also focuses on its history to refer to the struggle of those who want to live from their art, whatever it takes. The cast is made up of Aldo Pastur, Juan Manuel Correa, Cristina Allende, Marcos Woinski, Antonia Bengeochea, Miguel Sorrentino, Diego Sassi, Mario Petrosini, Christian de Miguel, Julieta Pérez and Martín Fiorini. The costume design is by Paula Molina, the lighting by Miguel Morales and Horacio Novelle, while the art direction is by Héctor Calmet. The original music is the work of the violinist Ezequiel Moyano, who performs it live throughout the entire work.: “The violin is like Poe’s heart, it’s another leading character,” explains Marcove.
Nails on 100 stagings of pieces by Argentine authors in his career as a director, Marcove remembers that 27 years ago he was about to start rehearsing this same work at the Cervantes, which could not materialize due to budget issues. “Abelardo always asked me when I would direct it,” says Marcove and, as he explains, from there arose the need to add a character to embody the author himself, who died in 2017. Thus, playing chess -one of his passions- Castillo ( Aldo Pastur) meets the Poe who stars in his work (Juan Manuel Correa), in a synthetic section of the journey undertaken by the author of The Raven, between 1826 and 1849.
-What characteristics does this piece have?
-Abelardo wrote this monumental work when he was only 24 years old and had never been to the theater. In Israel creates a new universe, totally different from the theater that was done then, with characters talking in a living room. Abelard identified with Poe. He was even a dipsomaniac, like him, that is, he was a drinker who could stop being a drinker if he wanted to, but when he fell again, he did so with great intensity.
-Were there many changes compared to the original?
–Silvia Iparraguirre, who was Abelardo’s wife, really liked the idea that the author was on stage. She and the writer Claudia Solans collaborated a lot with the staging, with her corrections. There were also cuts, as I did in other cases, which luckily were always accepted. It is that the theater appears on the stage, together with the actor, who is a great creator.
-How do the scenes arise where different performance registers are considered?
-I think of staging as a theatrical electrocardiogram, with its different dynamics and colors. The dreamlike tone of the work allowed me to give it even some cartoonish brushstrokes.
-The staging underlines the theme of the double that is already in the work…
-Yes, because between the characters of the author and Poe there is a game of loving mirrors and, on the other hand, between Poe and William Wilson, a character in one of his stories, a tragic double. I am especially moved by the tragic fate of Poe, his struggle to live from his profession. Like Van Gogh, Poe was “suicided by society”, in the words of Artaud.
-To what extent does this work speak of the present?
-Beyond talking about the history of Poe, the work is an allegory of the contemporary artist and man which even has a critique of capitalism. He speaks to us about art that is not financially rewarded, about culture conceived as an expense and not as an investment.
*Israfel, Cultural Center of Cooperation (Corrientes 1543), Fridays at 7:00 p.m. and Saturdays at 10:30 p.m.
Source: Pagina12
