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Inspiration is a strange creature. You never know where it lives, where it can hide and many times, it appears in unexpected and exciting places. Many times a love, a heartbreak, a wonderful city, a painting, or a song can awaken our creative instincts to their maximum power and help us build a fabulous project. It is not surprising that the wonderful work of the Spanish poet, playwright, novelist, and writer Antonio Gala. His writings, of extreme passion and sensitivity, are part of the historical memory of a country and have turned him into a great cultural icon. His novel La Pasión Turca gave him mainstream fame, making the readers fascinated by the love misadventures of a young and inexperienced woman named Desideria. But Antonio’s imagination is practically unfathomable and now the artist, photographer and art director Ernesto Artillo pays tribute to him with his new play: Gala Literal. The young artist who has received great acclaim in the art and fashion world gets emotionally naked alongside several actors to dissect the feelings that Gala’s work awakens in him in a brutal and sincere show that manages to surprise and impress the audience. Rawness, passion, and a lot of truth come together in Ernesto’s new performance that tries to answer one question: what’s love got to do with it?
Autumn has arrived, Ernesto. How do you feel now that it gets dark sooner?
The night does not intimidate me, it has led me to good artistic, festive, carnal ecstasies… so now that the sun goes down pretty early I take it more as a provocation.
Are you more of a night or day person?
With this matter, it happens to me like with my daily meals. I would say that my favorite food is breakfast, but, it is not that I prefer it, but rather that I like to eat so much that I enjoy it a lot because it is the first meal of the day. I’m excited about mornings, but I think it’s because mornings are like the starting point.
October 2023 has been a very special month for you because you have premiered the work Gala Literal, how do you feel?
I’m doing what I want to do. And that is a pleasure, a feeling that mixes excitement and serenity, which I try to feel with every project I do, but which is especially accentuated with this one because I really wanted to perform. When I was a child I took acting lessons at school with my teacher Juan and we represented several plays and I loved it. I remember that Juan also painted the sets of every play. Although in recent years I have done a lot of performances, Gala Literal is not the same because it is the first time that I’m not being me, l performed just the same way as when I did as a child, but more theatrically or figuratively. Looking back at my childhood I always found good clues to locate myself in my creation process. Performing through the words of my dear Antonio Gala, talking about my intimacy through his, has been very liberating and pleasant. Gala Literal is an exercise that I would not have been able to complete with so much learning and confidence without Fernanda Orazi, a master of acting who has accompanied me in directing this work. Nor without Bárbara Santa-Cruz, present throughout the entire creation process as assistant director and infinite support – who also gave me the replica on stage – and without Javier Ballesteros, another big shoulder on which I could lean. He has reviewed my dramaturgy, guided me in rehearsals, and has been at my disposal as the good friend that he is. It is increasingly clear to me that art is, in its best version, an opportunity to meet people you love and admire. In that sense, Gala Literal has been a very generous project
It’s your first time performing on stage. Why?
In recent years I have experimented a lot with installation, performance, and even virtual reality… media that in my opinion encourage more solitary processes, more online, and even more immediate when it comes to being shown and consumed. I am attracted to theater through other traditional stage formats such as churches and I relate not only to the space itself but also to the time and presence they require. As an actor or as a part of the audience, the theater proposes you remain focused for a long time on something that is happening in the present. That, at a time of crazy online and instant consumption, already seems revolutionary and attractive to me.
My relationship with Antonio Gala arose when my mother told me that La Pasión Turca was one of the novels written by a man who best represented female passion. Where did your connection with this writer come from?
I think it comes from my father. He has always had many of Antonio’s books at home that he dedicated to my mother with love poems. My father not only liked Antonio’s writing but also how he behaved during TV interviews. The lucidity and grace with which he expressed himself were extraordinary. So with this project, I return to my childhood, not only in terms of the nostalgia of returning to the artistic expression that concerns me, acting, but also in terms of inspiration, Antonio Gala. I am very happy to be able to embody as an adult the fascination that was generated in me seeing that exquisite man on TV. That’s also why I’m happy when very young people come to see the show who didn’t know Antoni Gala but suddenly connect strongly with his words, feeling that what he said in the 80s now speaks directly to them and then they begin to be interested in his figure. Although it is not my intention, I feel that in some way with this piece I contribute to expanding the admiration that my father instilled in me.
… The interview by Juan Marti continues in the print/digital edition.
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GALA LITERAL
A SCENIC ACT BY ERNESTO ARTILLO WITH TEXTS BY ANTONIO GALA
PHOTOGRAPHY: DARÍO ARANYO
COLLABORATION IN DIRECTION: FERNANDA ORAZI
DIRECTOR’S ASSISTANT AND REPLICA: BÁRBARA SANTA-CRUZ
ART PRODUCTION: JUAN GARNET
PRODUCTION: DARÍO ARANYO
COLLABORATION IN DRAMATURGY: JAVIER BALLESTEROS
LIGHTING: ANTIEL JIMÉNEZ
SCENOGRAPHY PRODUCTION: NIKOLÁS TÉLLEZ
COSTUME DESIGN: ATENEA MARTÍNEZ
WARDROBE ASSISTANT: MARÍA GARCÍA
GROOMING: MARÍA BARRERA
THIS PROJECT IS DEVELOPED IN COMMUNICATION WITH THE ANTONIO GALA FOUNDATION
AND WITH THE SUPPORT OF PEDRO J. PLAZA.
