Nicolás Cabré: "Directing Yepeto brings me a lot of happiness"

After starring in Yepeto in 1999, Nicolás Cabré returns to this beloved piece of Argentine theater, but this time from a different role: directing. With performances at Teatro Picadilly, Roberto “Tito” Cossa’s play is revived in an intimate and contemporary version, starring Roly Serrano, Alan Madanes, and Luisina Arito. “Yepeto was a great challenge in my career as an actor, and today it is also as a director,” says Cabré, who officially debuts at the helm of a stage production.

In 1999 you starred in Yepeto and now you are directing it. What was it like to reconnect with this story from a different perspective, with more life and more theater experience behind you?

It’s a challenge. I’m much older now, understanding it differently because the play, at times, hasn’t aged in the right way. Times have changed, so we had to find the “today” in it, in a way. But Yepeto was a great challenge in my life, a wonderful experience, and today it still is in the same way. It’s a big challenge, a big responsibility, a big learning process. I was surprised when they offered me to direct it. I thought about it, and it fits closely with what I have done or tried to do with my professional career. So, it’s something absolutely recognizable but totally new.

“Yepeto is a great challenge”

What did you try to highlight in this new staging? What new insights has the passage of time allowed you to bring to the play?

I sought to highlight this love story that doesn’t go through the physical but through what poetry generates for this teacher and this student; how both use literature to relate to each other, how they seek each other intellectually. The play required those changes, and what before maybe happened physically, we took more towards love or admiration for the other professional. Love, passion, madness, stubbornness, dedication are told from a completely different angle, which was the obligation we had to put it on stage today.

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The young woman’s character appears on stage, but in a staging that makes her invisible to one of the protagonists. How did that scenic decision come about, and what did you want to provoke in the audience with that?

I think it’s essential that she appears on stage. The play revolves 100% around this girl, and although only the teacher character (played by Roly Serrano) can see her, it also clarifies how mistaken or confused the young man is, believing they are doing things they’re not. Cecilia, when she appears in Roly’s imagination, comes to clarify what is really happening. They both believe they see something they do not. So, her presence clearly shows that they are going down completely wrong paths, especially when she appears as herself. I have no doubt that the absolute protagonist is Cecilia. Allowing her to appear and to play with this imagination or what they desire from that girl is a liberty I give myself by putting her there present and not just as someone told by either character.

Roly Serrano, Alan Madanes, Luisina Arito... What did you see in them to embody this story of desires, insecurities, and contradictions?

That Roly was interested in doing a play directed by me is a great compliment and a big responsibility. In him, I see an opportunity to keep learning in every way: as an actor and as a director. It’s a pride for me to say I directed a play starring Roly. Learning from him, and that he listened to me, means a lot.

Alan is an actor I admire, I have seen him and know his work, and also to allow myself to learn from all his ideas, his enthusiasm, his willingness. When the possibility came up for him to join, it was a great joy. Luisina I didn’t know, but she showed up, did the casting, and as soon as I saw her, I said, “She’s Cecilia.” I could talk for hours about each one individually. But if I have to talk about the three of them together, going over the lines, helping each other, working, connecting… it’s wonderful. Sometimes I watched them from the distance that being the director gives you, and seeing them... it’s beautiful! We really looked at each other, and if there is something I’m sure about in this play, it’s that these three had to do it.

You’ve spent many years on TV and stage as an actor. What has directing given you or is giving you that perhaps you didn’t find in acting?

It gives me a place where I feel comfortable and have fun. Directing gives me lots of room to make mistakes, to grow. It gives me new challenges, a lot of knowledge, and I meet people who teach me a lot. Although acting is a very long career and you never stop learning and discovering, this is very recent for me, and something I’m learning. It brings me a lot of joy, a lot of fun, makes me think differently, it gives me happiness. Honestly, directing today gives me a lot of happiness. And seeing when things work and when they don’t, seeing how you solve or how you bring what you imagined to life, or how you communicate it to the actors, is a great challenge. It gives me a lot to work with and I try to enjoy it and take it calmly. But basically, if I had to answer quickly, that’s it: it makes me happy to do something else I like.

“Directing gives me a lot of room to make mistakes, to grow”

PING PONG

An unforgettable scene you acted in?

Any scene I did with Alfredo Alcón.

A play that marked you as a spectator?

Seeing Alfredo on stage was a unique experience.

Full theater or silent dressing room?

Both.

A director who changed the way you act:

This may sound repetitive, but well, when we did El gran regreso with Alfredo. But all of them: Emilio Alfaro, Hugo Arana… they always change your way of acting. When you think or get distracted thinking you know everything, these people come and change everything.

Bitter mate, sweet mate, or coffee with milk in the dressing room?

Mate. Mate however it comes.

The most difficult character you played?

All of them.

A ritual before going on stage?

None.

A song that has always accompanied you?

Oh... I wouldn’t know now.

Acting, directing, or sitting in the audience?

All three.

A food that takes you straight home?

Asado (Argentine barbecue).

When and where: Teatro Picadilly, Avenida Corrientes 1524. Tickets here.