Here James talks about how he managed to bring Fuerza Bruta’s works to London, New York, Tokyo, Seoul and Taipei

It’s just before four decades have passed since the beginning of the always creative, original and successful path of Here James. In those early days I was like a twenty-year-old actor and director of the company The black organization and his legendary presentations in Cementbut then they arrived Of the Guardian AND Brute forcethe latter since 2003.

Fuerza Bruta shows are an unstoppable and long-lasting event that transcends borders and this has taken the group to more than 50 cities around the world, on many occasions with different casts working simultaneously in different countries.

Residencies in New York and London have been a magnet for the biggest stars of film and music. For example, Madonna took many of her actors and applied some of his ideas. He himself is a number one in pop and R&B Usher, based on an album about Diqui’s creations. And it wouldn’t be unreasonable to say that some images of The matrix They also had it as an influence.

Aven: revival and tour

Today Diqui is more than satisfied with the success of his latest work Av in the last 2023, with completely sold out dates at the SinPiso Hall he set up specifically for the GEBA club.

It will be republished on January 17thand then kick off a break before going on stage in London, where Av will be from July to September with 80 shows at the legendary The Roundhouse.

In parallel, another cast will go to Korea and a third team will tour Mexico and Brazil. In other words, logistical and coordination nightmares are the order of the day, to the point that five containers the one going to England will have to be sent in April because the journey is estimated to take a month and a half.

Such a success, absolutely no points compared to any other Argentine showis a continuation of the success of previous works such as Wayra or the initial of the title of the same name, Brute force. In the meantime, of course, they have produced mega productions such as the Bicentennial show at the Obelisk and the opening ceremony of the Youth Olympic Games.

Together with Diqui James, his team of creative and technical partners is essential, such as the musician Gaby Kerpel, Alejandro García and Fabio D’Aquila.

“I am thrilled with the success of Av -says Diqui- because it cost us a lot of work. Now let’s make one last stop – says Diqui – in Buenos Aires, to celebrate a little before leaving to travel the world. Here we also train actors and technicians from the other casts, also trying new things for the show, always through trial and error.”

He adds: “All of this was delayed in the middle of the pandemic, so for me it’s a great thrill to have been able to make a new show, change the aesthetic of it and make this happier and brighter show.”

A trip went well

-Although Fuerza Bruta is a mega company, after all it is a theater company where it was born from an artistic perspective, before an entrepreneurial one.

-We had a trip that went well. If we had thought about business we would never have existed. What we have done since then VillaVilla with De la Guarda and then Fuerza Bruta he went against all the rules of the transfer market. The first thing that happened to us was to set up a place of our own: we went to Recoleta to make a tent in a place that was a warehouse of things that were lying around.

-Same with “Aven” in GEBA.

-Clear. It is a space that I consider very large and which will also be used for other things. Another thing that happened to us all the time was that they would come from abroad and say that we couldn’t debut in another country because of permits, technical and security clearances. But Alejandro García, who takes care of it, got the books for all the technical specifications and we ended up doing this everywhere. We never sat around waiting for someone to take over production.

-At what point do you decide to start preparing another show? What is the useful life of a work?

-We premiered the first version of Fuerza Bruta in 2005 and the following year we went to London, where we flipped it and changed the entire script. We finished it and suddenly found ourselves planning the Bicentennial and thinking about new things. Then we did it Wayra.

-Did you have two different works touring at the same time, like Cirque Du Soleil?

-Yes. In 2017, before I started thinking Avwe made a version of Wayra to Japan and spent a year there. It was a work of almost three years, because Japan showed us so many things and we had a complete experience of Japanese culture with our language. While it wasn’t a totally new show, it was definitely different.

Today Wayra It still works: we are in Korea and we go to Barcelona. We also changed it. I think that theater has longer processes than cinema or music, and we have a very particular language that ensures that the show does not age. It’s not a trend.

-When there are tours, do you stay in one country for many months or do you continually go and return?

-I come and go. When I acted and directed I stayed, but when we put Fuerza Bruta together I decided not to act. My body decided that for me, but it was very interesting because leaving that place gave me a lot more creative freedom and I invented things that I could never act on.

The stay in London

The first time Diqui James debuted in London was in 1999, with De La Guarda and the opera VillaVilla. He then began a direct relationship with The Roundhouse, a former railway locomotive depot which in 1966 became a legendary concert hall, where artists such as Pink Floyd, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin performed.

“When they called us – Diqui recalls – they said they were going to renovate it and they wanted us to be there until it closed. In the end we did eight shows a week for a year! It was something incredible. They offered us to appear on the cover of Time Out and not we didn’t even know it was the most famous magazine of the time.

-Now I’m back there with “Aven”.

-Yes. What happened is that it was closed for seven years and they renovated everything. They kept the entire original structure, but for example they removed the roof and put in another one that allows you to hang heavy objects. Then you see the old building but it’s actually a bomb. It is no longer the shed of an old railway station.

With Fuerza Bruta we debuted just a year before the Roundhouse reopened, so now we’re finally going to come back and they’re going to give us the whole summer, eight weeks straight.

-The work is brighter, without moments of tension or even terror before reaching redemption.

-This was the idea and the challenge. During those two years of the pandemic, I revised the script and we said let’s make a show where the audience doesn’t have to go through those tense moments to feel that happiness and that liberation.

-Was it because of the pandemic that you wanted to leave all this aside?

-I also felt a bit of an 80s aftertaste. Obviously we started out against dark, so the challenge with Gaby Kerpel was to say, “Let’s make the happiest show possible.” More powerful, more euphoric, lighter. And the result was a very festive, very celebratory show.

The idea is that you put yourself in a box where in an hour you are subjected to proof that happiness and beauty exist.

travel anecdotes

-Is it true that Madonna stole part of the cast?

-We spent six years in New York with De La Guarda and many film actors came to see the show. Those of The matrix they came to see VillaVilla about 15 times. Madonna came and later did a production and stole all our dancers and did similar things.

-Usher asked to perform with you?

-Yes. Her experience was funny because the production people told me that she went every day, took notes and wrote during the show. And one day he calls us and tells us that he made the whole new album inspired by the scenes of Fuerza Bruta, so he would like to release the album by performing at the show. Gaby got together with the producer of her album and we did the whole show with her songs. It was crazy.

-Where is the most extroverted audience?

-Argentina and Brazil are a party. In England they are very loud and extroverted but physical contact is more difficult. And the most introverted audience is Japan, where they don’t know how to express it and are not at all used to such a proposal. They also find it difficult to clap because they are afraid of making a bad impression. They really teach them that showing feelings is rude.

a proud father

-The last thing, because it is inevitable to ask. How do you see your son’s career, Louta?

-He found his way. My relationship with him is very emotional. We have a back and forth, over father and son, with conversations about his entire artistic vision. Is cute.

I remember sleeping on it as a boy anvils during the tests. He went on tour with us and left school for several months. And now I see what he does from the point of view of music, acting, directing, acting and everything else. He is an animal.

-Are you his number one fan or his harshest critic?

-I love everything he does and I have a lot of fun. I also tell him many things and we have conversations, but not criticisms. We shared many beautiful artistic conversations.