MIAMI.- Before entering the Artefactus room for the Miami premiere of money logo Yuna is meadaptation of the actress Mara Ferrads from the novel The cousins by Aurora Venturini (1922-2015), the writer Yadil Rodríguez spoke to me with emotional enthusiasm about the book and about some interviews with the writer that he had seen on the internet.
At the end of the performance, already in the lobby, the actress told how she met Venturini and how they both liked each other. There was something contagious in the atmosphere, because theatrically the work was an exercise in control of the language and the scene by the performer, and of a text that weaves a surprising story from an apparent simplicity.
When I saw the interviews with the writer at home, I understood that she was a wonderful, charming character, who, according to what she told a journalist, was closed doors for being a Peronist. Even so, he carved a path through prose and poetry. He also said that upon receiving an award from the great Jorge Luis Borges, he, in his blindness, ran his hand over his face and said: you are a poet.
Monlogo de Farrads
Farrads’ one-man show, directed by Horacio Pea, presents the story of Yuna, a artist plastic artist who goes to an important national gallery for the opening of a retrospective of his work. Shy, a little insecure, nervous, she begins to read a note that leads to the story of her life, full of obstacles, prejudices and amazing scenarios.
It is perhaps this reality, full of inconveniences, that makes this proposal from Argentina intense, within the Solo Teatro Fest, which it organizes in its 5th year. Artefactus Cultural Project edition.
Yuna is a woman who, in politically correct language, has special needs, so she is, as she defines herself, a re-educated disabled person. She has major problems with her speech, it is difficult for her to articulate her words, they are broken, her tongue gets stuck. She however excelled by attending the Institute for the Disabled, where she learned to paint, so she paints what she feels when she sees it. But her feelings are weighed down by prejudices and taboos. She rejects men, her motherhood terrifies her, her sexual themes are difficult for her, among other limitations that she, as she said, tries to reflect in her works and it seems that she has achieved it by the acceptance of her performance as a painter.
The problem of physical difficulties seems to be genetic, since her sisters, in particular Betina, describe her as deformed, with short arms and legs, who eats at a special table, like the children’s.
Yuna is a hidden storm
The other fundamental character in Yuna’s monologue is her cousin Petra, whom she calls Lilliputian. She got pregnant and it seems that she murdered a neighbor.
As the play goes on, the audience understands that Yuna is a hidden storm, worried about what people will say. That world is reflected in his paintings, where her torments and those of her dysfunctional family are captured.
The text conceived by Mara Ferrads, based on the novel The cousins, seems to flow smoothly. It is a linear, intimate narrative that the viewer perceives, while allowing himself to be enveloped by a simple and direct scenography: seven frames hanging on the stage and a bench to sit on and contemplate the paintings he describes, and that the audience must imagine.
The strength is in what is told and how it is told. Actorally, Ferrads does not exalt himself, rather he allows himself to be carried away by the linear, dressing in the style of the 50’s, a wide white skirt and a black blouse with long sleeves and a pearl necklace. He narrates naturally what a complex, ruthless and, why not, unfair life entails towards the painter. It is there where the actress grows to move and achieve an overwhelming empathy towards the writer Aurora Venturini.
The acute adaptation work of María Ferrads, her intense and convincing performance as an actress, shakes the public from its simplicity.
Another good contribution from the Solo Teatro Fest of 2024.
