“Theatre serves as any other art, to awaken the sensitivity of a spectator, amuse him, seduce him, make him laugh or cry,” said the Argentine playwright. Roberto “Tito” Cossa. Such an accurate definition is relevant because “How to start a fire”interesting debut of actor Gonzalo Heredia as a playwright. His work fulfills the laudable objective of entertaining, but without ceasing to investigate the eternal and dissatisfied dysfunctional families and their particularities.
It is important to detail the plot: the first act takes place in the late eighties, during a barbecue in the barbecue area of a simple house. Julio (Gonzalo Heredia), prepares the embers to roast a suckling pig while his wife, the loquacious Mabel (Laura Azcurra), get ready for the bite. Norma arrives at the banquet (Eugenia Tobal), who in her youth was a model and in the uncomfortable present seems to take refuge in that sweet poison that is alcohol and her husband Oscar (Nicolas Garcia Hume), a hustler who dreams that a direct sales company will catapult him to economic success. Thus, between jokes, hints and children playing in the yard, without control, we will discover that neither of the two couples seems satisfied with the life that has been their lot. Things will get even thicker when Julio inoculates his poison into the head of his friend by telling her something that we will not reveal here.
The next act takes place thirty years later in the same home where those now adult children now live: the couple Gastón, son of Oscar and Norma (in charge of García Hume) and Eleonora, offspring of Mabel and Julio (in the shoes of Azcurra ), who had to take care of his mother, who was admitted to a hospital. The visitors are Santiago (Heredia), Eleonora’s brother, and Berenice (Tobal). This second part is much more virulent due to the reproaches and cross accusations that arise. Furthermore, a camouflaged feeling of frustration and melancholy appears when realizing that, without meaning to, they end up repeating the same mistakes of their parents.
Heredia has good ideas, although he has not yet mastered the resources of dramaturgy. The characters are characterized in broad strokes and the dialogues they exchange alternate between very witty and decidedly bland, without being defined by their personalities. It is commendable that she resumes the path that national authors such as Alicia Muñoz or Patricia Suárez travel with much more experience.
The quartet of performers, of homogeneous quality, fulfill their indisputable profession.
