Helena Escobar 'La Bleda': "It is necessary for children to have a model, even if only to break it when they become teenagers"

Like penguins is an autofiction show, in which I tell the story of Helena, who is me. I explain why I became a clown.

Why did you become a clown?

— When I was very little, when I was only one year old, I had to be operated on because I had been born with a dislocation and a malformation of the hip. Since babies move by instinct, they had to put me in a full-body cast, from my neck to my feet, leaving only holes to pee and poop.

Phew...

— During my childhood, I had to repeatedly undergo operations that forced me to have my whole body in a cast, and I also had to wear braces, all so that I could walk well when I grew up. What I lived through was a tragedy, and what the clown does to save themselves from what makes them suffer is to turn it around. With time, you can turn the things that make you suffer around; you can tell a painful story with humor. This is one of the reasons that push me to become a clown, and to help people.

Being a clown makes you a mother in a different way.

— Yes. I am very positive. Very cheerful. In all children I see their clown soul. All children are clowns, they are small souls of art.

Clowns, like children, are vulnerable creatures.

— In clown there is a concept which is the flop moment, when someone is at their lowest, it is the moment of helplessness, which is when the audience sees themselves reflected and laughs the most. Over the years, being a clown has been very useful for me to face difficult situations. It is a brutal medicine. I have been able to help friends in tough situations because I always, always, always know how to bring out a smile.

Laia is the daughter of two clowns. When she was little, did she see you perform?

— When Laia was very little and we took her with us to perform a show, she really didn't have a good time. So we preferred to leave her at her grandparents' house or with friends. When we perform we are working, and to do it well, we have to be focused, which is very difficult when you have a small child who is constantly demanding your attention. There was also another factor. She would see other children coming up to us, coming to tell us things after the show had ended, to take photos, to ask questions, and she experienced that as if she were being excluded, as if other children were taking her parents away from her.

Will you choose your trade?

— She has not yet found her vocation, but I do not think she will choose the world of show business. It is very hard for her to stand in front of people. Perhaps she will have a creative job, that yes, but she is shy, with a very special and beautiful sensitivity, an inner sensitivity, an oriental sensitivity.

What are we not quite doing right, mothers and fathers?

— I am nobody to say how things should be done. There is no single formula. But when no rules or limits are imposed, the child is very lost. You see children who do not have an education, a culture, and that is indeed a problem for the child and for those around them. Children need to have a model, even if it is only to break it when they become teenagers.

How do you solve problems at home?

— When things are not going well, we stop the machines. Crisis cabinet. A meeting, and we try to put things back how we believe they should be. Laia gives her opinion, but sometimes it does not coincide with mine or her father's. We also have a psychologist who has helped us along this path, and more or less, we are managing.

Over the years, what has been the most complicated moment?

— The most complicated part was when she arrived home. Adopting her when she was a year old forced us to adapt to each other. It required us to be always attentive and it was emotionally difficult. We gradually overcame it as she grew older and understood that we could not always be there for her. The school helped us, as well as her starting to have little friends and parents with whom to share experiences.

What makes you laugh together?

— When we went to China to pick her up, Laia had all her emotions blocked. She was a girl who didn't laugh, didn't cry, didn't show any emotion. Her father, since he is a clown, had it in his head that he had to make her laugh at any cost. He tickled her, made funny faces, everything, but he didn't succeed. Now that she is older, when we remember it, it makes us laugh.