Silvia Marsó: "How is it possible that feminism is still being questioned?"

BarcelonaIn 2021, actor and director Abel Folk made an enthusiastic call to playwright Emma Riverola: he wanted to commission her to write a play in defense of democracy and as a hymn to hope. Riverola, with whom Folk I had already done tandem to #OpenDoors, took the proposal firmly. From that idea arose Carnations, a show starring Folk himself and Sílvia Marsó, which has toured theaters across Spain and now comes to Barcelona. It will run from June 25th to July 6th at the Teatre Goya, as part of the Grec Festival program.

"I wanted politics to permeate the lives of the protagonists, but not to be the sole driving force of the play. I imagined two characters marked by love, heartbreak, misunderstandings, and betrayals," explains Riverola. The protagonists lived together Portuguese Carnation Revolution when they were barely 18 years old and, due to a traumatic event, they separated. 40 years later, they will reunite in a show that contrasts their perspectives on politics, society, and life. "He is a pragmatic and honest politician who becomes prime minister but doesn't complete his term. She abandons her activism; she is a philosopher and critical thinker of the left. In short, my character is a failed winner, and Silvia's is a talented woman whose freedom is restricted," explains Folk, who also directs.

Marsó's character represents someone intelligent and well-prepared to enter politics, but who, due to her gender, never makes it. "Women have been victims for many centuries. How is it possible that feminism is still questioned? There is still a political sector that does," emphasizes Marsó, who adds that the production is "a tribute to all those women who prepared themselves, were a driving force of hope, and came to nothing."

Finding hope in the future

The narrative thread of the story is built on what the characters don't know, which the audience will discover as the show progresses. But above all, Riverola wanted to paint an optimistic picture of the future. That's why she chose the Carnation Revolution as a pivotal moment in the lives of the protagonists. "The memory of that revolution is pure. In 1974, with a dictatorship in its death throes but still killing, in the country next door, a dictatorship ended without violence and with an explosion of life in the streets," says Riverola.

Following in her footsteps, the playwright emphasizes the hope she has sought to infuse into the production. "If before we equated the future with progress and it gave us hope, now it scares us more. We are at a time when what no one would dare say out loud is now being said quietly," Riverola notes. "In the face of all this darkness, we wanted to talk about hope and reclaim it."