Microtheater at the Hotel Sauce

During this month of June, the First Saragossa
Microtheater Competition takes place in the city. An initiative through which hotel cafeterias and bars take the form of a theater stage and host the finalist works of the competition.

And yes, friends, Mi HABITACIÓN favorita will be the stage on which one of the finalist works will be performed. Directly from Argentina, we will attend the premiere of Gin Tonic, a microtheater production that participates in the Lo Tuyo es Puro Teatro contest. A text by Fabián Tuysuz in which nothing is what it seems, the direction of Felix Martín and the sensational work of two young actors that will surprise you.

This Saturday we will be able to enjoy Fabián Tuysuz’s Gin Tonic show in two showings at 8:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

Interview with the protagonists of Gin Tonic Isabel Hebrero and Manuel Buenaventura

We had the privilege of attending the last of the rehearsals and were fascinated. We were chatting with the two protagonists and we want to share with you part of this conversation, trying not to reveal too much. Today, in our interview section we have the pleasure of introducing you to Isabel Hebrero and Manuel Buenaventura.

“Gin Tonic is about envy, jealousy, revenge, it is almost a modern-day Shakespeare.”

We have been surprised by your youth but also by your interpretive maturity. Where are you in your career? Are you already professionals on the scene?

Isabel: Let’s see, we are both in the training process. We both studied at the Saragossa
Municipal Theater School. The thing is that Manu finished his studies last year and I am in my last year, a week away from finishing my training.

Manuel: The question is, when is a professional actor? When is your salary that or when your work is professional? We don’t make a living from this yet, we hope to do so one day, but everything we do is the most professional. We are professionals at work, not in cache yet.

Is this your first experience in microtheater?

Isabel: In microtheater we did a comic scene, completely different from this, which Manu wrote with a friend. We made it in a cycle that has an online magazine and we represented it in La Lata de Bombillas and in the Vía Láctea.

Manuel: In fact, we are going to present it to Micronesia, which is a professional microtheater festival, in Huesca.

How did you find out about this contest, how did you find Lo Tuyo es Puro Teatro?

Manuel: Pure chance. When Isabel and I did this comedy show (Brownie, it’s called) in the Milky Way, Fran Martínez, who is one of the partners and a former student of the theater school, scheduled us, saw us and a few days later he called us with a text from a Argentine author, who had presented it at a microtheater festival in bars and hotels. And here we are.

¿Hay un circuito de teatro en Zaragoza en el que los actores jóvenes puedan ir trabajando?

Isabel: En Zaragoza el teatro se mueve más en salas privadas. Es complicado.

¿Qué os pareció el texto de Gin Tonic cuando lo leísteis?

Manuel: Es un texto interesante. Trata sobre envidias, celos, venganza, es casi un Shakespeare pero actual. Cuando lo leímos la propuesta que le hicimos a Félix era más realista. Pero él nos recomendó un par de películas, Eyes Wide Shut y La Gran Belleza, y nos dio otro enfoque.

Isabel: Él nos dijo que este texto realista iba a ser muy aburrido y nos planteó un rollo más onírico, más ambiguo, con más seducción…

Nos ha encantado, y nos es familiar, el rol del camarero, camarera en este caso, confidente al que los clientes le cuentan absolutamente de todo…

Isabel: Es curioso porque la escena original la protagonizan dos hombres, el camarero en un chico. Yo soy un camarero. Nosotros al cambiar mi género hay más juego, más seducción. Y tampoco se comporta demasiado como una camarera…

Existe un cliché que dice que todos los actores han sido camarero alguna vez ¿Se da en vuestro caso? ¿Os ha servido para preparar el papel?

Isabel: Yo soy camarera ahora mismo, pero mi bar es más de croquetas y de vinos. A preparar Gin Tonics aprendí el otro día. Es un mundo complicado el de la coctelería.

Is there a theater circuit in Zaragoza where young actors can work?

Isabel: In Saragossa the theater moves more in private rooms. It’s complicated.

What did you think of the Gin Tonic text when you read it?

Manuel: It is an interesting text. It is about envy, jealousy, revenge, it is almost a Shakespeare but current. When we read it, the proposal we made to Félix was more realistic. But he recommended a couple of movies to us, Eyes Wide Shut and The Great Beauty, and gave us another approach.

Isabel: He told us that this realistic text was going to be very boring and he proposed a more dreamlike, more ambiguous, more seductive story…

he We have loved, and we are familiar with, the role of the waiter, waitress in this case, confidant to whom customers tell absolutely everything…

Isabel:  It’s curious because the original scene stars two men, the waiter as a boy. I’m a waiter. When I change my gender, there is more play, more seduction. And she doesn’t behave too much like a waitress either…

There is a cliché that says that all actors have been a waiter at some point. Is this true in your case? Has it helped you prepare the role?

Isabel:  I am a waitress right now, but my bar is more about croquettes and wines. I learned how to prepare Gin Tonics the other day. It’s a complicated world of cocktails.