No one can hurt you more than those you love: “La tribu”, Peruvian theater about family

A classic of comedies is to put a large family under the same roof and let the conflicts, generated by the differences between the characters, trigger the humor. But, just as there is laughter among those who love each other, there are also tears; who, if not the family, can break the hearts of its members with just one word. Thus, differences become irreconcilable, leading people to never see each other again, nor speak to each other or at least send each other a message on WhatsApp. A play Peru goes to the root of these conflicts.

Written by Italo Cordano, who directs alongside Bruno Ascenzo, “The Tribe” follows the Cavagnaro family, of Italian descent, where the children Ettore (Nicolás Galindo), Giulia (Luciana Arispe) and Filippo (Diego Pérez) want to surprise their parents, Silvano (Carlos Carlín) and Tere (Alejandra Guerra). The feelings that each of them have for each other, added to the presence of the children’s partners – Guille (Alejandro Villagomez), Belén (Jely Reátegui) and Diego (Óscar Meza) – unleash a couple of days where everything that is has kept for years comes to light.

What is inherited is not stolen

“Sometimes parents and children are very opposite. It has happened to me that I say, ‘how did this human being come from this other one?’“Cordano told El Comercio. ““Children inherit certain things and we end up inoculated with certain ways of seeing the world, but there is a time when children have to get rid of those learned concepts.”Ascenzo said for his part. Both spoke with this newspaper on their first Sunday after the premiere of the play, a staging that was devised a couple of years before the pandemic and that now arrives at the NOS PUCP theater. A few first days of laughter and applause allowed the creatives to breathe easy; The proposal seems to work with the public.

In “The Tribe” the entire cast is on stage most of the time, all together. Ambitious in this regard, it posed a challenge to the directors, who focused on even the smallest details; When a pair of characters talk, the others cannot just be spectators, they have to convey something, whether with their posture or the movement of their hands reflecting their mood. “Something can be happening on one side of the stage and the other characters are there collaborating, even just with their glances the scene is set up and tension is created with the collaboration of everyone. “That was a challenge.”Ascenzo mentioned.

An agile narrative

At times the work seems to have a television influence, something that Cordano recognizes, since he likes agile dialogues and finds his work some points in common with sitcoms. The work also has touches of drama, and this passage from one genre to the other is something that interests creatives. Precisely in this sense, the work of Carlos Carlín stands out, who with just a word, or a gesture, can change the tone of the narrative. Cordano does not like to write with actors in mind, to avoid disappointment when talent cannot participate, but in the case of Carlín, Reátegui and Arispe, he did.

And speaking of Jely Reátegui, the uncomfortable face she gives to her character, Belén, successfully represents the opinion that an outsider may have of this somewhat alienated family. “Jely is unique, it can give you absolutely everything; she also jumps from comedy to drama [con facilidad]”Ascenzo mentioned. “The reactions of the characters, played by both Jely and Oscar, are a bit of a representation, I think, of a certain part of society that is looking for change.”

With so many elements at play, “The Tribe” can only end one way; Cordano is convinced with the ending he chose. He doesn’t like to give morals, but he considers his work in terms of hope in a society where the basic unity is not so basic and not so united. Because, he says, there can be affection despite differences.