Manuel Gold debuts as a director with the play “Los Caracoles”, a play written by Julio Ramón Ribeyro

Despite the years, when it seems that everything he did in life Julio Ramón Ribeyro is recorded, said or represented, a new document or unpublished compilation appears that puts the “mute” back into force. And the genius of the Peruvian writer, whose stories are his letter of introduction, seems inexhaustible even thirty years after his death.

Among the least explored facets of Ribeyro is his time as a playwright, leaving a legacy of multiple plays such as the longest-running “Santiago el Pajarero” (1958), “The Basement” (1959), “Weekend ” (1961) and the “most important” for the writer – described as such in his letter of May 5, 1979 -, “Los Caracoles”, written in 1964 while he was residing in France.

Among the hundreds of Ribeyro’s readers is the actor Manuel Gold, who after reading a compilation of the Peruvian writer’s plays found in “Los Caracoles” a critical comedy that should be performed in these times. In addition to being one of the works that most captivated the writer.

“It is set in a different time, but it seems to talk about situations that anyone can find similarities in moments that we see occur in our times. “That genius and timelessness is something that speaks highly of Ribeyro, but speaks poorly of our society,” emphasizes Manuel Gold in an interview with El Comercio.

From actor to director

For Manuel Gold, being an actor is something impossible to separate from his history, since he considers that, after 22 years of artistic career and 45 plays performed to date, his place is on the stage of the theater. Although this time he assumes a different role than the one he is used to with the public, fulfilling one of his first great desires as an artist: to be a theater director.

“When I was younger, my idea was always to be a playwright, not an actor, but life took me down a path that I really like, to the point that I did not finish my university degree because I dedicated myself to this”mentions Gold, who is now making his debut as a playwright with the play he always wanted to see on stage, “Los Caracoles.”

For this play, the cast is made up of Miguel Iza, Jely Reátegui, Renato Rueda, Sebastián Monteghirfo and Gisela Ponce de León, who will give life to a story that places us in the emblematic El Trópico hotel. This is on the verge of bankruptcy due to its new competition, which will lead them to take any measure to crush their rivals regardless of the consequences. “Although I have known all of them for many years, I do not hesitate to ask them for something, and neither do they. Being a director is something that I have already completely assumed”says Gold.

With this new challenge in his career, he has changed his professional life, which now revolves around posters, meetings with producers, set designers, stagehands, musical composers, costume designers, lighting and actors. “Here I take my work home, I think at all times about the details, the rehearsals, the payments and the number of tickets sold. The stress is a lot, but my emotion surpasses it”Gold tells us.

After a year of preparation, a few weeks before the premiere on May 2 at the Nuevo Teatro Julieta, Manuel Gold is not thinking about being a great theater director or continuing to direct plays, but rather about completing a dream that is now coming true. “I’m tired, a lot of my hours and free time is gone here, but I feel that when I see it finished on stage, everything I’ve done so far will have been worth it”he concludes.