Notas para un retorno
These are the things we wrote down in a shared Drive document, trying to figure out how to make our way back home. Some ideas are more or less profound, others more or less nonsensical, others simply appeared and stayed there.
Maybe, to begin with, it would be good to understand where we were: a country of divine little deer drinking crystal-clear water from ancient lakes; sacred hops and bureaucracy as a way of life. A place so silent that at times it turns into pure noise. A city that is, in turn, an island, which is, in turn, a vast theater of illusions. One day we watched a turtle die on the shore of a beach, and everything changed. Since then, we have had to find a way to look again at our river, polluted by tons of industrial waste, yet so beautiful. Incredibly, monarch butterflies, dragonflies, and other charming little creatures still live there.
The return plan is rather cumbersome, so the piece will also be a bit cumbersome. Hopefully not too much. It’s about a shipwreck on the way back to the homeland. It’s about a text that is some three thousand years old, yet somehow helps us understand our own destiny, which leads nowhere. It’s about Ulysses, heartbroken, rehearsing his autobiography. It’s about a red little dog sleeping in a conventillo in Constitución. It’s about the goddess Athena, gazing at the stars through a telescope she bought online that doesn’t quite work. It’s about Circe, the trans aunt, who plays the piano like an animal. It’s about a chorus of punk sirens who take the floor just when the play seems to be ending, cutting through the solemnity that nostalgia occasionally brings.
Just like in Homer’s Odyssey, this return closely resembles a delirious journey of recognition. Because there is nothing left of the house—only a garden. And in the garden, there is no other option than to hold an assembly or, at the very least, throw a party to meet up with our friends again. In the end, it’s only this: a play about returning.
Credits
Dramaturgy and Direction
Ana Iramain and Guido Wertheimer
Performers
Damián Mai, Florencia Sanchez Elia, Ana Iramain, and Guido Wertheimer
Original Music and Live Performance
Juli Venenita
Choreography
Florencia Sanchez Elia
Costume Design
Ju Ishi
Production and Assistant Direction
Julia Zlotnik
Sound
Dante Frágola
Video
Anita Piñero, Ana Iramain, and Ramón Miquelot
Tutors
Luciana Acuña and Alejo Moguillansky