Before the pandemic, Martha Buchaca He launched himself not only to direct his works, but also to produce them. The first was ‘Rita’, a reflection on the right to die with dignity that combines drama and comedy. It premiered successfully at Sala Beckett with David Bagés and Anna Moliner. He should have done a season at La Villarroel in the spring of 2020, but everything went down the drain due to confinement. This Thursday it finally premieres in that room with a different cast: Mireia Portas, a great comedic actress, and Sandra Espígul, with whom Buchaca made her directorial debut with ‘Les nenes no haurien dejugar a futbol’ at Versus.
‘Rita’, which will only be on the bill for three weeks, until the 22nd, is based on a personal experience that reflects the great concerns of the author. “I only talk about death and family. They are my two obsessions”, affirms Buchaca to EL PERIÓDICO. He also touches on both themes in his new piece ‘Quant temps em que?’, which will be premiered at the Goya during the Grec festival. It’s about a scientist who discovers a system to find out how many years to live you have left. He starts with her husband, who has a month left according to her test. “She talks about death from comedy, as it happens in ‘Rita'”.
dignified death
It is important to clarify that ‘Rita’ is prior to the approval of the euthanasia law in Spain. “The case raised by ‘Rita’ is that of a woman with Alzheimer’s who has been in a vegetative state in a residence for a long time. Now, even with the law approved, without the will of the patient, nothing can be done.” With an animal, everyone assumes that helping it die is logical; with people it is different. “It is a work that you can do with characters of any gender. It changes a lot when played by two sisters, as we do now. With two women, the nuances in the relationships are different. It also brings something ancestral to the feminine.” The play is inspired by a nearby case and the scenery has objects that belonged to her grandmother.
The producer because it allows me to create my own works but it would be cool to be just an author
Buchaka, author of fifteen playsis pleased with the boost her career has been given by switching to production with The Pocketproducer where he has focused on creation and direction of his plays and script writing. “The production company allows me to create my own works, but it would be cool to be just an author. I don’t earn more as a producer, quite the opposite. If they hired me I would have a salary. With ‘Rita’, for example, I don’t even know if I’m going to collect it. I do theater because it’s my life!” he exclaims.
Like Jordi Casanovas, Cristina Clemente, Carles Mallol, Josep Maria Miró and Pere Riera, other powerful authors of their generation, Buchaca benefited from his time at the TNC Project T6, created to introduce young Catalan playwrights. There he premiered ‘A mí no em diguis amor’, in 2010. “We had a company of nine actors and I thought: we will never have so much money and resources in a production.” He was not wrong.
The address is a channel for my works to arrive but it does not fill me like writing
literature and cinema
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Right now she is involved in cinema, a genre that was deepened during confinement. As a screenwriter, he has premiered ‘The Game of Keys’, an Amazon Prime series, and just roll ‘Fenomena’, a movie for Netflix directed by Carlos Therón starring Belén Cuesta, Toni Acosta and Gracia Olayo. “I have my own project in hand that I’m developing, it’s my idea. We’ll see how it goes, because with the theater, two children and everything doesn’t give me life,” confesses Buchaca, a ‘superwoman’ with her feet on the ground who made his debut this year as a novelist with ‘Sis mesos d’hivern’ (Navona). “Last year I broke up and I had to situate myself. Writing helped me, it saved me. For me it was a dream to write a novel. These days I notice that I’m a little weird and it’s because I haven’t written for a while. The direction is a channel for my works to arrive, but it doesn’t fill me like writing. What gives me life and takes away my anxiety is writing”.
Try to organize yourself as best you can. Working in an ivory tower is not his thing. Buchaca is into the ‘coworking’ vibe, something that allows her to connect with other types of people. “It’s funny, when I lived with my ex I couldn’t work if he was home. Instead, I can work with people next to me without any problem. It’s good for me to force myself to go out and write somewhere else. If I stay home I start doing other things.”