Until recently, gender-based violence and its greatest tragedy, femicide, were a problem that took place behind closed doors and for many women (and not even for their children) it was almost impossible to get out of that circle of hell. Although still far from finished, yes it has greater visibility and awareness in all sectors. And the theater realizes it too.

The Buenos Aires program offers various works which, in one way or another, allude to and refer to this global scourge and tell, from the different points of view of each fiction, a specular situation of reality. Baltasar against oblivion, Rota Y I wanted to die before youare some of them.

In Balthazar against oblivion, is based on a real event that happened in 1993 in a city in the province of Entre Ríos. In the show, co-written and directed by Marcelo Moncarz, the protagonist is the son of the murdered woman who pays homage to his mother.

Sow from the devastated

“A feminicide supposes a life snatched away, a life that must not end there or that way. A woman is a woman in a society, in a neighborhood, in a family,” says Moncarz. “The work deals with femicide from the perspective of one of those parts that break in front of an event like this, in this almost the teenage son, who try to find a way sow again on what has been devastated”.

The story, that in real life he received no response from Justice, is one of many that are still repeated today with shocking frequency. “Baltasar is invisible in the face of injustice, and the work achieves great empathy because it not only tells of feminicide, but also deals with silence, complicity, looking away,” says the director. “As a company we are Baltasar”.

Moncarz recounts that, together with Tom CL, the protagonist, musicians Facundo Borda, Melanie Cejas Montero and Federico Trotta, and the author of the original novel, Mauricio Koch, who lived in the town of Entre Ríos where the event occurred, they turned to the rebuilding process of being young in the 90s and in an inner city.

“We tried to discover everything that prevented us from connecting with Baltasar’s world: his dreams, music, pain, joy, colors, smells, fears, love,” he says. “We try to be careful to avoid low blows and we focus on making memories.”

a different approach

On the other hand, inside Broken, the approach is completely different. The opera written by Natalia Villamil and directed by Mariano Stolkiner shows a woman, mother of a feminicide who has just committed suicide, by Raquel Ameri, in heartbreaking mourning for her son. The actress received several awards for this performance.

“The director has tried to focus the work on the loss of this mother, she is hurting her son who committed suicide, and for this reason the The theme of feminicide is exalted, because it comes from behind and we don’t try to underline it“Says America.

The actress had to face an extremely complex role in this work which deals with this issue from the perspective of the home, from the maternal womb of feminicide. “And it pushes us to recognize that the problem is inside and not outside, e Those who commit feminicide are our children, our parents, our friends, siblings, grandparents, partners and former partners.the men we love are the same ones who kill us”.

And this is why Ameri assures: “The work invites us to many reflections, especially the question of what we will do with a patriarchal culture, where we must assume that masculinity must be deconstructed and focus on the aggressors without starting from now on in care for the victims.

The point of view that Broken, on feminicides and feminicides is unusual. In comedy, because there is a mother who, despite the violence and pain, she cannot give up her love for her son who is revealed to be a murderer.

“The love with which that mother speaks of that son, of that monster, is what automatically makes the spectators deviate from a judicious gaze, to meet the feminicide in her arms, rock him, look after him and recognize him as their own”. account of the public reaction.

“So everything changes there, that social place in which to see the conflict outside, in others suddenly is something that tomorrow we will be able to face in our homes”, he adds.

“As a mother of two boys and a girl, I also recognize in the work many reflections on the maternal role and how this culture condemns us at the same time that it demands everything from us in exchange for the romanticization of that role,” explains Ameri. “My character is a woman who raised this man on her own, but no one directly notices it she is blamed and held accountable for the wrongs done by her son“.

The story of two sisters

For its part, appealing to the more documentary tone I wanted to die before youwritten by Magalí Melía and directed by Lorena Romanin, focuses on the bond of two sisters, one of them, a victim of femicide by her husband. After Leia’s death, Irina tries to piece together their lives and everything they shared from the moment she receives the news.

“On the one hand there is the story of the victim’s sister, who goes through everything that happened in her family after the murder in a very sensitive way. On the other hand, we see how the relationship between Leia and Javier develops, who to fall in love with up to kill her,” explains Romanin.

“What I find very interesting is seeing the frame of the bond, and noticing that sometimes we are very closely affected by some couple constructions, which make feminicide clearly a problem that is within society and not outside”, he assures.

According to the director, “the audience really empathizes with Irina’s stories, in which she tells how events unfolded after her sister’s death.” The goal is somehow bring the stories and characters closer together so that the audience feels identified.

“Regarding the relationship between Javier and Leia, the idea was to bring Javier closer so that the public could also identify with this character to generate a greater awareness of all of us regarding feminicides,” he describes. “He IS a possessive person, but also with a huge insecurity and an irrational need for Leia. Someone with an emotional hole that made him suffer.”

As in the other works, the director underlines that, with such a delicate subject, the fundamental and most complex thing is to highlight the simplicity and emotion of the story but “without falling into low blows or blunders, beyond the suffering these events generate”.

The works, where and when to see them

Balthazar against oblivion. By Mauricio Koch and Marcelo Moncarz, interpreted by Tom CL Directed by Marcelo Moncarz. Saturday at 18:00, in Area 623, Pasco 623.

Broken. Drama by Natalia Villamil, performance by Raquel Ameri and directed by Mariano Stolkiner. Saturday at 20:00 at Teatro El Extranjero, Valentín Gómez 3378.

I wanted to die before you. From Magalí Meliá, directed by Lorena Romanin and a cast composed by Sebastián Blanco Leis, Débora Longobardi and Magalí Meliá. Thursday at 8.30 pm at Teatro del Pueblo, Lavalle 3636.

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