Andorra la VellaThe Andorran actress and playwright Elena Santiago has confirmed that the functions of the work NAKED are extended on November 29 and 30 at La Feréstec room. The work, in an immersive format, addresses the issue of cyberbullying in depth, and has established itself as a relevant cultural proposal in the country.
Santiagorecent winner of the 49th Born Award of Theater for the piece the silencecontinues to expand its impact on the theater scene. With special discounts for young people and students of L’Animal, NAKED offers a unique opportunity to reflect on the limits and dangers of the digital world.
How do you feel after receiving the Born Award for The Silence? What does winning an award of this magnitude mean to you?
At the beginning quite a bit of ‘shock’, now that a couple of weeks have passed I feel very good that the theater world recognizes your work as good and that it is on the right track. A part of me has calmed down, it’s been like a message from life to keep moving forward. It is a cultural badge of great prestige and within my profession hopefully it translates into more performances, better valued and more interesting, in such a precarious world to have this position in the cultural field is great news.
How did the idea of exploring “the many facets of silence” come about?
It was when I already had a part of the work advanced, I didn’t think from the beginning I want to speak from the silence, what happened to me is that while I was in Sala Beckett where I consulted how to start the project and I started to create characters. Then I made them interact and that’s when the snowball got bigger. When I was five months into the project I understood that I was talking about silence in different facets, with this conclusion I enhanced this theme with the characters and different personalities. It was not the starting idea, it has ended up being a play with up to six actors on stage.
What aspects of this topic do you think will connect the most with audiences?
Above all, the silence that is explored, is not of stillness or calm but that which explores the silence of the world of aggression or misunderstood complicity. I think that no matter how this issue is treated, from historical memory, from the complicity of the country in covering up parts of the past to the mental health of the protagonist, there is a taboo with mental health. There are so many facets to a character or another they will be able to connect with or see events with that they can feel identified with.
You have highlighted the role of the earth within the work, as an essential character. How would you describe his presence? What role does nature, and especially the land, play in the atmosphere and development of the plot?
I wanted to bind silence and earth. Especially from the perspective of historical memory and symbolically reflecting those towns that are silent, the lands that are silent. A problem that exists in many countries, from the dramaturgy I thought that not only should the mountain land appear, but the characters must bury and dig up objects and secrets linked to the dramaturgy so this land is necessary in this work, whoever is directing it. The development of the plot is linked with the land, it is a scenographic element that must be constantly transformed.
The jury highly valued the use of shadows and the poetic tension within the work. Can you tell us about these resources and their symbolism? How did you work this aesthetic and emotional dimension in the characters?
With the subject of shadows I remember that when I came up with it, I thought it would be difficult to do. I was lucky enough to consult with my teacher Marilia Sampé who encouraged me and reminded me that you could talk to the shadows from another point of view. We know that the shadows have different emotions and language than the main characters.
In The Silence, ethical dilemmas and questions of family secrets are also raised. What is the relationship between the secrets, dilemmas and generational weight that the work explores? Is there any personal experience or inspiration that helped you create these conflicts?
There is an intimate and intrinsic relationship. The family secret is what makes the whole ethical dilemma of this story explode. It’s a family secret that comes from generations, I’m interested in exploring a silence in each character and also talk about the silences that have existed for generations. Each generation that is silent causes this silence to be perpetuated and magnified. Yes, it is true that within each family there are affairs that are taboo, this generates family tension and I have experienced this firsthand and it is in the work.
You have a diverse career as an actress and playwright, and you recently appeared in the short L’Ull Nú by Andrea Sánchez, at Filmin. How has your experience as an actress influenced your writing? What aspects of your background as a performer do you feel bring depth to your characters and plots?
My need to write plays comes from my need to act. Both desires go hand in hand. I do see when I write in the phase where you start to clear things up, and you start to write that you still don’t know how to relate some characters. Well, I stand in front of a Word and make them speak impromptu. From the acting side I think it is positive because there is a point that forces me to face this challenge of dealing with the most narrative part. I don’t have too many rational contexts left, but my training helps me connect very well to the internal rhythm that each character has and that I feel must end up having in the final draft. When I write I dare to improvise from this point.
With all your accumulated experience and the projects you have been developing, how do you see the future of theater in Andorra? Are there any changes or supports that you think would be important for the next generation of stage makers?
I don’t know, honestly. I believe that there is a lot of talent, but without support and without measures to make it grow inside and outside the country, the talent cannot go further. We are many actors and actresses with good careers and who are Andorran even though we often work abroad. It would be interesting as a country to bet on producing certain projects in Andorra and bet on them being exported abroad, which is the most complicated.