Parece nada

Time and Memory

"It never ceases to amaze me to what extent the process of building a stage piece is also the process of understanding – one which often defies time and memory: the anecdotes, the events, the internal dialogues that arise today in the form of engines of creation sink their roots not in memory but in oblivion.

And, yet, something powerful has kept them there, in some buried substratum of the body, which in my case I experience in an absolutely physical way. For some reason, they don't decompose and vanish, but instead they scream again and emerge, seeking a visible form, materialising in images that can communicate and express that secret and unknown force that made them resistant to time.

I could go back in my memory, remembering, identifying those moments, those questions, those experiences that have come back to visit me in the rehearsal hall without any apparent rhyme or reason and which did not stop haunting me until they found their place and their meaning in the piece.

'Parece nada' ('Seems like Nothing') was one of those creations that has been long in coming; one of those that sprout on their own as soon as you give them the necessary time and space. It simply is a response to an impulse and a need that had to be expressed.

I have felt reconnected with the passion of spending hours in the studio, almost without noticing it; with the pleasure of having an artistic and technical team that, without questioning or limits, knew how to support and accompany the process with a continuous presence, but with just enough distance so as not to condition the result.

Nothing made more sense for this project than a dramatist (understood as one who helps the creator in the process of understanding his own piece, so that his vision is as effective, true, and successful as possible) who would turn out to be an illuminator and constructor of images with the talent and renowned prestige of Benito Jiménez. His initial ideas about the space, the lighting, and the use of video, which he contributed during the first work-related conversations, were key to structuring and clarifying not only the dramaturgy of the piece but also its functioning as a stage device and ‘labyrinth of meanings’.

Likewise, the accompaniment of the creative minds of Javier Martínez and Marta Morera from Lugadero was fundamental in revealing an internal dialogue that was synthesised and embodied in this piece and which had already been underway for a long time.

In recent years, I have gone through a process of reflection and personal and professional analysis in which I have steered clear from stage creation, precisely to listen to myself and ask myself about my desire and needs as a creator in the singular, and in the plural as a structure with El Mandaito Producciones, the production office directed by Toni Hurtado and Lourdes García, who have been an inseparable part of this artistic project since 2007.

Simultaneously, I have found other possible ways to satisfy that creative impulse: by organising and directing five editions of a thought residency (PENCCA) in which I have shared (with creators and professionals from different areas) issues such as the role of the performing arts and our responsibility to society, as well as how to update the values, forms, and relationships of contemporary creation and its processes; also carrying out artistic accompaniments and directing the projects of other artists.

It seemed logical that the final step of this phase of looking at my surroundings and learning to look at myself should be a stage creation. This project dealing with the topic of one's gaze was to help me to understand many of my concerns and questions about the act of looking at the stage and the world while, at the same time, it would mean evolution in my stage writing, as well as in the relationship with my body and movement, now that I am approaching my fifties.

“Todo parece nada” (Everything 'seems like nothing') and there is no conclusion, no attempt at pedagogy – much less indoctrination. The piece does express the desire for an encounter, for 'thinking, feeling, experiencing together', as well as love for sharing some discoveries with almost childlike innocence.

Guillermo Weickert

In short, the responsibility to practise, fine-tune, and improve our view of others and the world around us is not necessarily to assume reality as it is but to be able to project a better and brighter reality for everyone."