Fel Faixedas: "My wife and I decided to give the bank the keys to the house and let them keep it."

The actor Fel Faixedas (Arbúcies, la Selva, 1970) organizes two theater festivals and about 60 years ago bowling and several television and radio appearances each year. He claims to be a "restless bum" and that this comes from his family. He grew up in a "poor" family, greatly affected by the post-war period: "They had very little money, and my mother valued them greatly; she didn't waste anything. Even things she could afford, if they were expensive, she didn't want them." And he was raised with that philosophy: "I remember some cologne that my friends bought as a typical souvenir for the family, and I didn't buy anything; I returned the money to my mother when I got off the bus."

He entered the working world at 14, working summers at a textile company. At 18, he started working in the family fish shop, and a year later, to gain greater independence, he opened his own stand: "For a few years, I even combined the fish shop with a pub I owned. I worked 24 hours a day, seven days a week." "At 27, I realized that it made no sense for me to go and buy and sell fish, and that going on stage made people laugh," and so, he emphasizes, he decided to go to Girona to study theater and music, and to create the Guerrilla Theater company: "No one knew us. We were three bowling every six months. But we were very stubborn and we went to the Tárrega Fair in 99. That's where it was the bomb. People in the theater world discovered us," he recalls.

For 25 years, neither he nor his partner, Carles Xuriguera, have ever lacked work: "We are not casting actors, we wait for them to call us. We have always written our own texts and produced our shows." There was only one period when he was left without work: "The management of Catalunya Ràdio promised us a program and when it came down to it, on July 31, they left us stranded, nine months of zero income. I only do a sports section on the radio once a week, but, since I was so broke, I couldn't even make invoices. Until, for peace of mind, my wife and I decided to give the keys to the house to the bank and let them keep it. Start from scratch."

The idea when they bought the house was to sell the apartment they had to pay off part of the mortgage, but the financial crisis hit, and they didn't sell: "We'd already been paying the mortgage for eight years, so we'd left a lot of money buried." In any case, selling it, she says, was "the best thing" she's ever done: "It was a lesson to see how life, in an instant, turns against you, not because of you, but because of circumstances beyond your control." Furthermore, at the time they already had two children: "We experienced all of that with great sadness, but at the same time with great joy, because we had to pretend from the children that nothing was happening."

They then rented for three years: "When we wanted to renew the contract, they tripled the price." So, they stayed in the family home and haven't paid either mortgage or rent for a few years now. "The goal now is to start looking to buy. I have two children, and we see the difficulties that exist for young people." The idea, then, would be to have one for each of us.

Continue working

On a professional level, although he says he's sometimes tired of generating content, he needs the adrenaline to live: "I've done a thousand stupid things: now we're putting on a show, now we're setting up a restaurant, we're going to make wine, I'm writing a book... This has given me the freedom that my profession offers." "I can't imagine having a permanent job Monday through Friday, from eight to five in the afternoon. I'd be dead," he admits.

As for personal finances, he doesn't want to worry about money: "I don't want to be rich, I never will be. I want to be free, and if my children want to study, we can pay for them." And in fact, he assures that he has always prioritized doing what he loves: "I'm happiest on stage, and that's where I'm lucky enough to earn a good living."

He is currently immersed in the best show he has ever done, The mothers"We're very happy with the response, we're selling out all the theaters." And, for the moment, he's not thinking about retirement: "My hobby is my job. So, maybe in a few years I'll slow down, but I want to keep doing it." bowling"I want to continue doing theater and I want to continue making people laugh, so retirement is not in my plans."