A Shakespeare with an Argentine accent and clown-like airs in La Villarroel

Barcelona"I love Shakespeare and I love Chaplin," says Argentine comedian and director Gabriel Chamé Buendia (Buenos Aires, 1961) to explain the essence of his works. His admiration for these two great figures gives rise to his shows, in which he adapts the British playwright's works using the language of the clownChamé debuted in Barcelona in 2016 with Othello (ends badly) and now returns to the city with a proposal that shares the coordinates of that show. Measure for Measure (It's Your Fault) remakes Shakespeare's comedy to focus on the abuse of power with sexual connotations by the protagonist, the Duke, over Isabella, a novice. The show premieres this Saturday at La Villarroel and is part of the festival. Autumn Flash.

"Shakespeare wrote this play in his mature years and at a time of great religious repression by the government. It's a dark comedy, which has always been treated very seriously, but I can't do it, it escapes me," says Chamé, who is a great defender of humor: "He's a great defender of humor: an escape, it's an awareness. It allows us to see things in many ways, with relativity, and then the laughter resonates in the brain." With this approach, the director faces one of Shakespeare's darkest stories: the Duke has imposed the death penalty on all those who make love outside of marriage. When a novice, Isabella, asks him for mercy for her brother, who has broken this law, he himself tries to sleep with her. "It's a situation of sexual abuse of power, a theme that haunts us. I was particularly interested in the female point of view and the decision Isabella makes, because she chooses to protect her body before saving her brother," Chamé explains.

Five actors for 17 characters

The Argentine director's approach to Measure for measure Nothing resembles the period in which it was written. The characters are dressed in contemporary fashion, and the stage space plays with objects and voids. "The story is 100% respected, but I sought an abstraction in the space. More than the joke, for me the most important thing is the physical, visual, and poetic gag, and above all, not to overwhelm the audience's imagination. You can do a lot with very little," Chamé reflects. This maxim also applies to the show's cast: Matías Bassi, Nicolás Gentile, Elvira Gómez, Agustín Soler, and Marilyn Petito are the five actors in charge of bringing 17 characters to life. "They are constantly on stage, multiplying their work, and their transformations are seen onstage. For me, the important thing about theater is working with actors," says the director. Of the original work, however, he did remember that Shakespeare set it in Vienna, and from there he made it convenient for the show's soundtrack to be composed primarily of Viennese waltzes. "Vienna was home to great composers, and waltzes give clowns a lot of elegance," he emphasizes.