A grandfather, an emigrant recently arrived from a country in the Far East, fleeing a war, and that is hard to understand the country that will welcome him (that would be France), but do not understand their language nor their culture. That is the loving and patient mr. Linh protagonist of the little Philippe Claudel with the air of a fable is The granddaughter of mr. Linh (Salamandra, 2005, The Magrana in Catalan) that now comes to the scenarios embodied by the actor Lluís Homar in a montage of one of the great european directors present, the belgian Guy Cassiers.
The néta del senyor Linh, in the Catalan version of Sergi Belbel, nothing less, opens today, Thursday, in the theatre of The Channel, in Salt (Girona), in the framework of the festival High Season and will represent then at the Teatre Lliure (13 to 30 of December). The show, in which Homar plays all the roles (the narrator Linh and his friend mr. Bark), and adopts the point of view of migrants on Europe, comes at a time of especially significant, and this is recognized by its creators, with the rise of Vox in Spain following the elections in andalusia.
Cassiers says that he wanted to talk about the Europe of today, and “confusion”, and he has tried to “understand what you think someone who comes here”. .The director is a creator that is eminently political and that has reflected on the european history and its more obscure aspects in shows like Duister hart, adaptation of heart of darkness by Joseph Conrad, or his two mounts on nazism, Le sec et l humide, focused on the nazi belgian Leon Degrelle, and Les Bienveillantes, about an SS officer middle French, based, respectively, in the assay, and the famous novel of Jonathan Littell.
granddaughter baby of mr. Linh, Sang Iud, which gives title to the novel and the play, have a special role . “It is the engine of mr. Linh, the force that he is to live,” says Homar. “It’s all about the girl.”
The director of the High Season, Salvador Sunyer, highlighted in the presentation of The néta del senyor Linh the pan-european dimension of the project, which includes versions of the piece in flemish, French, English, and Catalan, with different actors, and shows that “there are many Europes, is the economy, but also the “culture”. The mounting that stars Homar will also have a version in Spanish and will tumble for Spain. “The topic”, synthesized Sunyer, “are the refugees, something that no one knows how to deal with and that is why happens what happens in the elections, and I don’t cite any”.
Cassiers pointed out the “great adventure” that is to develop a same show in different assemblies and languages. “Every time I come back to mount it with an actor of the country co-producer, are gentlemen Linh different, the frenchman Jérôme Kircher, the flamenco Koen De Sutter, Homar… but at the same time an echo of the same story. I would like to be able to one day make them come up on the stage all together, offering a kind of ode to the richness and uniqueness Neyine of the various stories of europe”.
Cassiers, stressed that the assembly with Homar is not a remake, although there are things that are the same in all versions, and stressed that it is “a show of Lluís”. The actor each time, he explained, not only the text says in your language in the scene but also creates images, “is responsible for helping the public to develop their imagination”. The story told by the work, “is very short, that of a person who reaches Europe, a refugee, who does not know the language; it comes from a war in their country. Claudel puts the focus on how that person sees our society, our civilization.” Shows, said, what is important is the power of the imagination to find a way to survive in the new environment. “The lord’s Linh is a situation nothing ideal, the language is always important, but is a bridge to friendship. The painting reflects how friendship can survive the tongue”.
For the director, the story “touch too much, is very moving. And it is not a story of white and black”.
For Lluís Homar, that there are other colleagues that do the same role with the same director “it is strange, because you always have the feeling of ownership of the character, and you have four…”. To Cassiers liked very much the work of Homar. “He has told Me he likes that I put in front of the character, but to its service”. Also appreciates the director the cinematic experience of the actor, as in a scene that has to act not only before the public but before a live camera.
The girl baby of mr. Linh, Sang Iud, which gives title to the novel and the play, have a special role in the work. “It is the engine of mr. Linh, the force that he found to live. It’s all about the girl.” Homar highlighted her character that it never feels a victim, always sees the positive, even if you do not understand that then so cold. Holding out hope and not let it defeat you.”
Make asian without being
Homar, who is quite caucasian, embodies the lord Linh that comes from an asian country, Vietnam, although Claudel is not what it says. After the recent controversy that has arisen in the Lliure by the fact that an actor, white played a black figure in Àngels a Amèrica, isn’t it a problem race the interpreter of The néta del senyor Linh? “we have Already been criticized in the networks”, said the artistic director of the Lliure, Aurora Rosales. “We are in the focus, let us do what we do”. Homar said the problem in the work is not the race of the character, but what he feels and what he says, and reflected: “do we have to have as a vietnamese who speak Catalan?”. Cassiers is referred to another controversy, that of Jan Fabre and the allegations that have been made of abuses. He said that they have to wait to see what he says justice and not to judge before the director in the media.
