Labourer of acting
Álvaro Gago, the director of ‘Matria’, chases Ramona with his camera in a frenzied story that has earnt actress María Vázquez her second Goya nomination.
Cayetana Guillén Cuervo's love for the theatre comes from the cradle. The actress, proud daughter of Fernando Guillén and Gemma Cuervo, practically grew up in a dressing room. There she learned to admire the labor of those who work in the performing arts and now, as president of her Academy, she has promoted the creation of the Talía Awards, which "come to applaud and embrace her people".
"Not even half a joke with the artistic act on stage. It's a lot of effort, a lot of dedication". This is how passionate, without losing an ounce of sweetness, Cayetana Guillén Cuervo (Madrid) is when it comes to defending the work required to stage a show. And she does so out of position, as president of the Academia de las Artes Escénicas, but, above all, out of conviction. She knows this effort perfectly well because, since she was a child, she has spent hours and hours in theatres. "I have done my homework in the dressing rooms and eaten grapes on stage. My parents had two shows a day, I listened to them hundreds of times and I knew the texts," she recalls.
"The performing arts build better human beings because they give you tools to reflect"
With the launch of the Talía Awards, an initiative of the Academia de las Artes Escénicas sponsored by Iberia, Cayetana hopes that the admiration she feels for the members of the sector will be passed on to society as a whole. "If they knew how many hours of work they put in, a wave of respect would be generated. And that is what we are looking for at the Academy, we want them to know about us because that way they will know that we must be respected". And she values all that they contribute: "The performing arts build better human beings, better people. Because they give you tools to reflect, to feed your critical spirit, to have your own point of view, to be a little freer, to understand others.
"Talent is something very subtle but at the same time very powerful. It is something very vulnerable, but at the same time it can change history"
Cayetana boasts of the present and is excited about the future, but takes the opportunity to vindicate the past of our performing arts, the one she knows so well. "The Spanish performing arts have a brutal past. I only have to look at my parents, Lola Herrera, Pepe Sacristán, Julieta Serrano, the Gutiérrez Caba... That generation of actors changed Spain because they had a great commitment to the performing arts and helped to build a democracy in this country". A past that connects with her vision of talent: "Talent has to do with magic, it is something very subtle, but at the same time very powerful. It is something vulnerable, but at the same time it can change history".
