Breaking the ice
“In 1959 I was living in Candelaria, Pinar del Río, there I met a television model and told her,” Oh, look, I’d like to be a model and those things that most young people say about art. “My ambition at the time was to be a TV model.”Go to Havana and I will get you in touch with someone who will give you a card of the association of artists for you to work,” she told me.
“Ten days after I was already in the capital, in the house of that person, who gave me the phone number of René Socarrás, an actor who at that time was the President of the Society of Artists, located in Laguna Street and of course I got the card.
“After that I started. I came to Havana to work as a model, in television shows playing extra and doing very simple stuff. So I stayed until 1965
“That same year I went to the theater because the actor Edwin Fernandez was directing a play at the Teatro Martí and needed two people, of course, to make two very small parts. I worked there -which was very important for my career with leading actresses like Candita Quintana and Alicia Rico and actor Américo Castellanos… a series of comic theater actors that was tremendous to me. I was there until 1968.
“Once I went to the Hubert de Blanck Theater to see the play Contigo pan y cebolla by Hector Quintero and I was fascinated with the staging and actresses Berta Martinez and Silvia Planas. I said automatically: this is the theater I want to make.
“I tried to join that group and of course Raquel Revuelta told me not until I became part of the Third World group led by actor René Cruz. There I did almost nothing, anyway…
“In 1970 I went to the sugar harvest. In the Habana Libre sugar mill I met Alicia Bustamante, who said, “Hey, Berta will direct The House of Bernarda Alba and needs actresses “. I applied, I was accepted and, indeed, was real training was in that group.
Neither a yes nor a no
“I think the Stanislavski method is the foundation for any actor, after each one goes shaping his own style. For me the ideal is to build a character, with all the details about what happens around them and the least important is the letter. I learn the text and not even say I’ll say it like this or like this. If the character is well built all goes OK. It’s like real life: you have a way of being and expressing yourself. ”
It is like this, if you like it
“I’ll be honest, I have a wonderful focus, not only as an actress but in real life, I concentrate easily. I do not know if it’s because I’ve been alone many times and I have had to live with myself. Look, there are vital when you are performing: thinking, feeling, word and gestures. I wasn’t the one who said it.
(She laughs).
“Today for actresses my age is not easy to get a very well built character. I am going looking for the attractive parts. People have to find something different, unexpected and not resort to cliché, to the same, I do not like that.
“Look, if you start being very selective you can spend many years doing nothing. It is not easy to find a good script or a character with all the nuances that are expected. Typecast?? No, boy, I’ve never felt pigeonholed; indeed, I always look how to be different. ”
The Vagina Monologues
“I’m an actress. Neither comedian or dramatic, an actress. A funny character is performed as seriously as a dramatic character. Well, I have a certain facility for humor – that people say – because I do not find myself funny at all, on the contrary, I am very heavy. If it is true that I have it, then that helps me. Also my voice, being lightweight, it is easy for comedy. ”
The devil comes with you
“There is a saying: the cinema is a collective set of frustrations. And it’s true, because no one is happy with what he did. The first time I see something of mine, I fear, I do not like it. When I am invited to a premier, sometimes I don’t even go, I feel fear, panic. But later, when it has been some time and I see it with a different perspective, I like it a little more.
“Oh, criticism. I listen to any criticism because nobody is perfect. Sure, you have to see who it comes from. Once they published one about a character I played, I agreed and the next day I changed some things. I mean, I accepted what they said … luckily it was in the theater.
“If you do not do theater, it’s hard work to have a good base to work. Someone said: theater is the school; television: fame and film: memory “.
Mrs. Ana shows her medals
“Popularity, what a word that is. For me it is not essential to be popular, but the affection and love of the public, yes. When they tell you something nice or ugly, I like both ways. I really feel very happy to be what they call popular.
“I try to take things as they are, that’s life. There are not only good things, there are also regular and bad. Unfortunately it is not what you want, but so far it is happening every day. So I try to make maximum use of each of these circumstances. ”
A lonely woman
“Ah, yes, I’m very optimistic. I lead a healthy life; I always have a good thought for others. Having bad energy and bad thoughts makes people go sick inside.
“How do I want to be remembered? As a person that people loved, because I made them feel good at a certain point, nothing more. ”
By: Jaime Maso
(Still from film Esther somewhere)
