There are people who can turn a cloudy day, a blue Monday, into a sunny and friendly day. That’s the kind of energy that actor César Vicente has. Born in Andalusia, the passion and intensity of his homeland flow through his veins. Since the world discovered him in Pedro Almódovar’s acclaimed film, Pain & Glory, César has not stopped showing us his desire to make art, to express his emotions and to keep learning. This hot summer in Madrid has been the key moment for César to demonstrate that he is not afraid of new challenges. The playwright Pablo Quijano has been in charge of offering him an interpretative challenge capable of proving vertigo. But César is not afraid and has taken on this challenge with great courage. In Quijano’s new play, La Señora, César duels with Bibiana Fernández herself, who as a mother and Machiavellian diva controls and manipulates her children, played by César and Xoan Forneas, until they fall into a web of sex, lust and ambition. An explosive cocktail that has filled the Pavón Theater during the summer season and has remained engraved in the memory of the spectators who are already asking for its return. Can you hear it? It is the thunderous applause received by César Vicente.
What a hot afternoon!
You say it sister! Although this week even the heat I’m handling it well. My parents are visiting Madrid. They’ve both been able to see the play, I’m very happy. They even came with my kitten. They are going to stay with me for a week.
What’s your cat’s name?
Floyd, after Pink Floyd.
That’s a cute name for a pet!
Yes, it’s a very pretty Russian Blue.
Are you more of a cat person or a dog person?
I like cats a lot. Although I’m a person who likes all animals, really.
By the way, congratulations on your work in the play La Señora.
The play is making me very happy. I think it’s a very interesting project, it’s been a long time since I’ve been on stage and I love being able to do it.
You already had experience in the theater.
Yes, I did a lot of theater in Seville. It’s something I’ve been studying throughout my career as an actor. When I arrived in Madrid, audiovisual projects arose in film, television and music. But I’ve always been looking for new projects in the theater, but it’s something complicated and not easy to access. That’s how it is and I think that’s how it should be. I think that when something is difficult, the more fun it is to achieve it. That’s why, seeing me now on stage at the Pavón Theater seems incredible to me.
Did you know Pablo Quijano’s work before collaborating with him?
I didn’t know Pablo. I was in Seville for a few months, disconnected from everything and focusing on personal projects and swimming a lot. It was a time when I wanted to withdraw a little from public life because I didn’t feel very well, there were too many things going on in my life. And in those moments there is always Seville, my city and my home. I needed to reconnect with myself and spend time with my family, which is what I love most in this world.
What area of Seville are you from?
I’m from Tomares, a town very close to Seville. I decided to go back to Madrid for a few days and as soon as I arrived my agent called me to tell me that Pablo wanted to meet with me to propose a theatrical project. I thought it was impossible, too much chance, I had just returned to Madrid! And from then on everything has been great. I’m doing La Señora. I’ve shot a movie in Huelva with two actors that I really admire… everything seems to be going quite well.
Tell me about the rehearsals for La Señora. They must have been very intense.
We spent a month and a half rehearsing.
That’s not much to prepare for a play.
No, but it was the time the director wanted to rehearse. The play is intense and the rehearsals had to be forceful, active, non-stop. We were there from Monday to Saturday. And I think you can perceive our dynamism when you see the play. Did you like it?
Yes, I found it intense and very entertaining.
Before accepting the role, I met with Pablo and we spent many hours talking about many topics. He was very eager to meet me. He had followed my career and liked my work. Together we came up with the character. Pablo was very eager for me to play him. And, of course, I said yes.
The play revolves around two brothers, one played by Xoan Forneas and the other played by you.
That’s right, and it’s no coincidence. My character has several connections with me, we share certain traits. Obviously we are not the same because my daily life would be a real chaos. But Pablo has a very special gift to connect with the minds of his actors and with me he completely succeeded.
I want to know a little more about the similarities you share with your character.
Alex, my character, is someone who lives very withdrawn from society, in his own bubble and in his fictional world. I am similar in that I also live in my own world and sometimes I mix reality with fiction.
Do you have siblings?
Yes, but I don’t know them. It’s a long story, which for now I prefer to keep to my private life.I have always wanted to have siblings and when I see my friends with their siblings I feel a lot of tenderness and it’s something that emotionally touches me a lot and I like it. Most of my friends have four or five siblings and I have made my friends my own. So I think I am very generous with them in that aspect. I love friendship, it’s very important to me.
How have you worked on the dynamics between the brothers with Xoan Forneas?
Xoan is a hard worker and we both have our own technique. I am a very savage actor, very physical, who channels everything through corporeality. Deep down I think it’s something that also happens to me as a person, that I express myself a lot with my body, especially with my hands. So working with Xoan, who is very different from me, has helped me a lot and I have learned a lot from him. He is an actor who has studied and worked a lot, who projects his voice a lot, who contains and chews a lot of words, he is always alert. The two of us have compensated for our differences, we have known how to balance our ways of being and working and we have helped each other a lot. I help him with the body, he helps me with concentration… things like that.
Your characters are brothers… but they are not just that.
These brothers live apart from society, they have no prejudices and they love each other madly. It’s a very toxic feeling they have for each other, they just want to be together forever. There is a power dynamic between them, a game of deception beyond the figure of their mother. Alex is very manipulative with his brother because he doesn’t want to see him make the mistakes he made, especially with his mother. All the characters are dedicated to entangle, lie and manipulate each other to achieve their ultimate goal: power.
And that’s where what you call “The Ceremony” comes in.
“The Ceremony” is a concept that is taken from the play The Maids, by Jean Genet. From a very young age, our characters have been taught by their mother to perform this play and they both take “The Ceremony” concept and make it their own, they turn it into something intimate. Solange and Claire are Alex and Pablo, their identities mixed up in their own game of drugs, sex and many other things. The dysfunctionality of their relationship with their mother arises from her teaching them how to play with their respective roles. It’s crazy. My character ends up running away from that destructive dynamic, while his brother still feels a certain predilection for his mother. It is also important to mention the influence of the book The City of the Living by Nicola Lagioia in which he narrates what happened to Luca Virani, killed by two men who had been drugging and fucking for days and who invited him to end up torturing and murdering him in an apartment in Rome. They even slept with the corpse. It is a very strong story that can be felt in the dynamics shared by the brothers in the play “The Lady”. Pablo told me about all this, he even told me what happened at the trial. It was something that shocked Italy. Nobody expected that something like this could happen.
Your characters, like those involved in the Luca Varani case, have a tragic ending. Do you like the ending that Pablo has given to La Señora?
We didn’t have the ending very clear from the beginning and the role of the characters in it was changing. The dynamic that the characters have in their real life, ends up mixing with the fiction they share with their mother and that ends up complicating everything. In the end, it is one of the brothers who is always looking for a way out, the one who wants to impose his truth to the rest, to the mother and to the other brother. But that came up in rehearsals, when we stopped before preparing the ending, to see who was the one who should precipitate all the action. We were immersed in a kind of ecstasy after so many rehearsals, in our own nirvana, and that is one of the most beautiful things that can happen to you in the theater. It is possible to touch happiness. And so we came to the end of “La Señora”, which was a revelation. Did you like it?
Yes, and I sensed that the story was going to end in tragedy, I think it was inevitable.
It ‘s real drama.
What do you do to disconnect when you finish a performance of La Señora?
For me, theater is already a way to disconnect from life. I would never get off the stage. Doing theater is like an extension of my own being. I wish it were taught as a compulsory subject in schools. It makes me feel alive and relaxed. When I leave the theater, I don’t want to disconnect, I want to savor all the emotions it provokes in me. That intensity is something that I also transfer to my personal life, where I also find it hard to concentrate and control my emotions. The theater makes me focus, to channel everything I feel and that’s why I never want to disconnect from it.
But, what are you like on a Monday at nine o’clock in the morning?
On a Monday at nine o’clock in the morning I am someone who wants to conquer the world. Monday is the best day of the week. I get up very early, go for a run and I’m already active. I never stop thinking about the project I’m involved in, how I can improve my work, and how I can bring new nuances to the character. I usually go for walks, listen to music that motivates me and do a lot of sports, especially swimming. That’s something I’ve always been good at.
What music do you listen to to disconnect?
Holy Week music. I’m from Seville and for me Holy Week is blessed glory.
How do you see yourself in the future?
With a family and five children (laughs). I would like to have a big family and be able to combine it with my career as an actor. Those are my two great loves. I love love love. I am in love with love. It’s an emotion that opens doors for me, that makes me reflect, write, work. I want to find out more about love and how to use it in my work. I’m working on a documentary about love with photographer Steven Bernhard and I’m very excited about it. I hope we will be able to complete it soon.
Photography by Steven Bernhard @stteveenn
