“Sylvia”, the most unusual comedy you will see in the theater: we talk to its protagonist

When the enemy appears silent, Carolina Cano let the hate out. She opens her eyes wide, grits her teeth, her body language shows her on edge and then she insults him as if he were from the opposing soccer team. Putting in writing, here, the words that bark out of her mouth would make me lose my job; On the other hand, within the walls of a theater, insults are received with laughter, even applause. The enemy? An anonymous cat. Spout? This is Sylvia, half poodle, half lab, one hundred percent dog.

“It’s what we imagine dogs should do when they encounter a cat. We hallucinate that those are the things he would say or the way to confront“, said the actress, in an interview with El Comercio, about the comedy she stars in from Thursday to Monday at the Teatro de Lucía and which is called after her character, “Sylvia.” Written by the North American AR Gurney, the work follows Greg (Gustavo Mayer), an office worker who, in the midst of a midlife crisis, picks up Sylvia (Carolina Cano) off the street. Kate (Eblin Ortiz), a teacher and Greg’s wife, is not happy with the decision. Completing the cast is Sergio Paris, who plays three roles: neighbor Tom, family friend Felicia and Leslie, psychotherapist.

“Sylvia” is the most unusual work in the portfolio of Gurney, a playwright who explored with his work a very specific socioeconomic sector of the United States and which is unleashed here. The result is a comedy that works because of its conflicts and situations, but also because of the performance of the titular character. “Carolina sent everything to work, to explore a lot; It is physically tiring to play the character of Silvia, it is a lot of energy that depends on her” Rodrigo Falla, the director, tells us. He is right: in the brief scenario Cano runs, jumps, screams, climbs on furniture and people alike.

“Yes my body is feeling the lags [de la obra]. It is very demanding. Sometimes I’m at home, working or doing anything and I say ‘I can’t believe that tonight I’m going to be doing Sylvia, tonight I’m going to jump like that, I don’t know if I’ll make it.’ “I always achieve it, because I have to do it, but believe me, I surprise myself.”says Cano, whose relationship with animals dates back to before the work, when she adopted Alma, a dog who no longer accompanies her. She now has two cats, but she maintains the dream of adopting Sylvia herself.

Falla says that it required Cano not to be afraid of ridicule, of shame. The actress said for her part that actors cannot always leave that feeling aside, which was a challenge especially because it was about playing a dog. “Let’s say: an actor plays a human in a regular job, well nothing happens; On the other hand, I think that being a dog you risk making a lot of mistakes.“, he told us and recognized the quality of Gurney’s text (who died in 2017) and the support received from his cast mates.

Currently, Cano combines her role as an actress with that of theater producer in La Ira, where she works with Mikhail Page. She is not a new facet, since she has already done production before; It is a return to her roots. How do you evaluate the situation of Peruvian theater? “I feel that there are many proposals, it makes me very excited. Unfortunately, the seasons are short because everyone wants to do theater. So we have three-week seasons when the chambón from two, three months before, gets the same one. I think theater is emerging a lot, and post-pandemic it is valued more. I even want to believe, because I’m not sure, that it’s more exciting than going to the movies.”