Carlos Cuevas: “I had a lot of prejudices and a lot of ignorance about AIDS”

BarcelonaExpectations for The inheritance by Matthew Lopezare through the roof. The Teatre Lliure has practically sold out all the tickets for this mammoth six-hour show that caused a sensation at its premiere in London in 2018 and which, since then, has received a shower of awards – including the Tony for best play, the Laurence Olivier and the Evening Standard – and is. "More than a show, it is an event, an experience for the audience. They won't want it to end: from the first minute they will fall in love with the characters and they will love them very much," says the director of the production, Josep Maria Mestres. The inheritance The play opens on February 20 and can be seen until March 16, although given the success of ticket sales, the Lliure does not rule out rescheduling it at a later date. The play, translated by Joan Sellent, is published by Comanegra as part of the collection Guard lamp.

With Carlos Cuevas and Albert Salazar leading the cast, The inheritance revolves around a group of well-off gay friends in New York a decade ago. "I decided to do this show because of the political, social and theatrical symbol it represents. It's a play that explains where we are and where we come from. If we don't look at our past, it's very difficult to move forward," Cuevas stresses. Inspired by the novel Howards End From E.M. Forster, the work of American playwright Matthew López contrasts the characters of Eric (Salazar) and Toby (Cuevas), one willing to confront the weight and experiences of previous generations and the other, however, unable to do so.

The inheritance Cuevas begins in 2016, just after Hillary Clinton's defeat in the US presidential election, and presents an increasingly dark present due to the rise of Donald Trump's policies. In this context, the protagonists face the social gaze towards the LGTBIQ+ community and the stigma that still persists, largely linked to the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s. In a way, López's work is a tool to link the new generations to those events and to pay tribute to the generation that suffered them. "There is a part of history that my generation has missed, because we have neither lived it nor have they told it at school," says Cuevas. The actor's first in-depth contact with AIDS was during the filming of Merlin Sapere Aude, because the plot included his character becoming infected with HIV. "I had a lot of prejudices and a lot of ignorance about AIDS. That's why it's very important, pedagogically and socially, to make shows like this one." The inheritance", the interpreter highlights.

A complex web of friendships

López's play is ambitious in many ways. Not only because of its length – there are six one-hour acts that the Lliure performs in alternating three-hour performances during the week and in a single day at the weekend – but also because of the size of the cast, with thirteen actors on stage. Apart from Cuevas and Salazar, the company is made up of Dafnis Balduz, Ricardo Boyle, Francisco Cuéllar, Abel Folk, Eudald Font, Víctor G. Casademunt, Teresa Lozano, Luis Marqués, Carlos Martínez, Marc Soler and Ferran Vilajosana. They all make up a fresco that reflects the different ways of living, feeling and understanding relationships between gay men in the present.

"López portrays all types of gay men, their feelings, their thoughts, their pettiness, their grandeur and their self-destruction. It is impressive how, from this community, he is also able to rebuke any type of citizen," says Balduz. "He unfolds a very complex network of friendships, because the affections of these men have not been able to adapt to the norm. They have had to invent another way of loving each other," adds Boyle.

Another characteristic of López's text is the interplay between writing and action. The play begins during a creative writing class and plays at blurring the actors with the characters. This was a scenographic challenge that Lluc Castells has solved by accurately reproducing the rehearsal room of the Lliure in the Fabià Puigserver hall. The set design was also made from recycled materials from other Lliure shows and culminates in a visually powerful change towards the end of the play, when a house appears on stage. "It is a very important symbol for the play. To represent it, I tried to replicate the feeling a person has when they come out of the closet," explains Castells. "The world expands, the light comes in, and everything around you and inside you changes forever."