For the actor, theater is a way to return home. In that sense Pablo Echarri has undertaken an operational comeback in recent years with proposals such as “Art”, “Druk” and “Damn Happiness”.
Echarri meets NOTICIAS again at the Metropolitan Theater excited about his current work, unwavering in his political convictions and hopeful for the future.
News: Is this return to theater in recent years the product of a choice or did it also have to do with the lack of alternatives in the audiovisual field?
Pablo Echarri: I rediscovered theater after “Art”; There I began to have a new relationship with acting, I fell in love with the job again. I had lost some enthusiasm, perhaps replaced by some more political and social issues, with my work within Sagai and my work in production, all of that required a lot of effort and time. With “Art” I once again found the essence of why I chose to be an actor, great pleasure was awakened in me by the mere fact of coming to Corrientes Street and living the experience of performing accompanied by a group of people in whom one trusts when playing the game, with a text that shelters you.
News: Was it difficult for you to reunite with the stage?
Echarri: Clearly the body is intelligent in that sense, I immediately began to find spaces or tastes that seemed lost. Because, returning to your previous question, there is another part of the profession in which there are no job offers, they do not exist, they collapsed due to a change in technological paradigm, accompanied by a very deep crisis in Argentina, and a perfect storm was created in audiovisual matters. So, I think that the decision to embrace theater is a bit and a bit, it depends on how fundamental the issue of trying to cover basic needs can be and how much weight it has to do things because you like them. There are difficult situations in that balance, sometimes the issue of work and money is more important and other times it is really central to be able to feel represented artistically to continue playing on stage. I am very concerned about the lack of job offers outside of that, which has to do with film production, as has always existed over the last 30 years in Argentina, and also the disappearance of production in broadcast television. In other countries that did not collapse, but here it did and we have to recover it.
News: I recently saw you on a television program, where you said that Menemism had grabbed you with fame and money in your pocket, but that you regretted not having had a certain political commitment at that time. Did that political awareness emerge with Néstor and Cristina?
Echarri: Definitely, it was thanks to the arrival of Kirchnerism. After the neoliberal period, “Let them all go” and the end of the Alliance cycle, enormous distrust had set in and there was a great political capacity to re-engage a sector that was orphaned.
News: This 2026 is very special because it marks 20 years since the premiere of “Montecristo” and also “Chronicle of a Fugue”. I saw a newspaper clipping where Rodrigo de la Serna and you went to Casa Rosada due to the premiere of the film and were received by Néstor. Was it the first time you saw it? What impression did it make on you?
Echarri: Yes, it was the first time and it made an excellent impression on me. Imagine that, as I said, there was great disbelief and a person arrived contributing ideas that many of us wanted to see carried forward. An ideology that had to do with national production, with the adjustment of rights in favor of all neglected minorities. We were one of them, because the actors in intellectual property matters had a very precarious situation. And something happened to me that not only happened to me but to a large portion of society. I think it was not only due to the economic variables, which were definitely more favorable for the town, but also to this new love. The loss of Néstor was something very big for those of us who had somehow awakened to politics at his hands.
News: Have your convictions and your union activity led you to consider a career in politics, like the one Luis Brandoni had at the time, for example?
Echarri: I don’t know, but I don’t deny the possibility. I am 56 years old, I have done many things along the way and not only have I acted, I produce and I put my body into creating an institution like Sagai, for the protection and recognition of the rights of actors. I developed my personality in many aspects, perhaps some may have to do with party politics, occupying a certain space, but I don’t see it now. I don’t have a specific expectation or project, but I do have a pretty sharp intuition and I will know how to act when the time is right.
News: Appealing to that intuition that you have, when you went to Pergolini’s program, the topic of gorilism came up. Next year there are presidential elections again, do you think that this gorillaism so present in a sector of society can complicate the return of Peronism to power?
Echarri: We say gorilism to contrast it in some way with another type of adjective or denomination that generally does not sit well with the other. I also receive my nicknames, which are the representation of the opposition to a popular model embodied in Peronism, mainly by Perón in his most virtuous stage together with Eva and continued by the model of Kirchnerism, which carried forward those precepts and advanced economically and politically with a clear sense of country. I think that this opposition of ideas will continue to exist, the interesting thing is that it can be spoken openly, that each one shows his cards and takes charge of his thoughts. People always talk about Peronism, because it is a political party that expresses its positions, its members define themselves, they say who they are, where they come from, what they want, what type of country they want, what precepts they seek. And the gorilla, let’s say, conservatism, opposes that vision. There were moments in which this gorillaism was greater, in which part of society was co-opted by ideas and promises that came more from conservatism; In other times, the ideas that prevailed came more from Peronism or “Kukism,” as the flatter brains of this society call it. But I can tell you that after this far-right government, with a president who is effectively coming to destroy the State, not only as a structure but also speaking of the welfare state, for me there is a great possibility that Peronism at the time of the polls will not only count on those of us who always define ourselves as Peronists. I think that at the end of the road we will not only be our own, but we will end up having some followers who previously voted to the right.
News: That night you encouraged Pergolini
Echarri: I expressed what I thought due to certain particular circumstances. Supposedly we were not going to talk about politics and there was a heavier video against Cristina that ended up being edited on air. So, I had the opportunity to express myself as a militant. Making it clear to the viewer that I am “Kuka”, but that putting an anklet on a person who is never going to leave their house because they have always adjusted themselves straight, is a fetish that the original video gloated about and whoever adheres to that will surely be quite the gorilla, that’s how it is.
News: Before starting this interview, the topic of Maradona came up. Now it is going to be 40 years since the 86 World Cup and you said that you miss Diego a lot, in what ways do you miss him?
Echarri: I miss him as an observer of reality and as a representative of that part of the people that is sometimes ignored, of a social sector from which he came and throughout his life he never stopped representing, not even in the moments where luxury and opportunities were offered to him in tons. He could have had a more comfortable journey if you will, but even in those circumstances he continued to defend workers in general and retirees in particular, he was always on the side of those who had the least. Also missed is his frankness when speaking, added to his enormous ability to leave behind phrases that are visions of a reality synthesized in an unforgettable way. The truth is that I miss him a lot, I would love for him to have been here now… but what are we going to do, good people die.
