As the reading of her play Cassandra, Sandra approaches, author Gabriela Aguilera shares some thoughts on what inspired her to tell this story.
This play came about in a very organic way, prompted by a personal experience with death, like a visit to that world that is always present, but is invisible to us until we’re touched by it. What I felt was very unexpected and intense. I knew I had to digest it in a creative way, because otherwise I wouldn’t have known where to put it.
And when a person feels death, in the end she thinks of life and love. And this is how one of the themes of Cassandra, Sandra appears: the need to take a moment with someone we don’t know and open a small window into our own life. A little love. A little company. A plaster to staunch the blood from a wound that maybe needs stitches. But which is better than nothing.
There are other themes in this play, tied in perhaps with that same feeling that death brings, making us weigh up the meaning of our existence. The appearance of a mountain of lifeless things that are rubbish to some and treasure to others; the loneliness of supermarkets; the economic differences between people and countries; the make-up of families; the ghosts that keep us company; the things we cannot name but that are always with us.
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Este texto surgió de una manera muy orgánica, el motor inicial fue una experiencia personal con la muerte. Una especie de paseo por ese mundo que está siempre presente, pero de alguna manera es invisible hasta que nos toca. Lo que sentí fue muy inesperado e intenso, supe que tenía que digerirlo de una manera creativa, porque de lo contrario no iba a saber dónde ponerlo.
Y cuando uno siente la muerte, finalmente piensa en la vida y el amor. Así aparece uno de los temas que están en Casandra, la Sandra: la necesidad de tomarse un momento para estar con alguien desconocido y abrir una pequeña ventana a nuestra propia vida. Un poco de amor. Un poco de compañía. Un parche curita para parar la sangre de una herida que quizás necesita puntos. pero que es mejor que nada.
Dentro del texto se traman otros temas, tal vez hilados con esa misma sensación que da la muerte, la que nos hace evaluar el sentido de nuestra existencia. La aparición de una montaña de cosas inertes que son basura para algunos, un tesoro para otros, la soledad de los supermercados, las diferencias económicas entre países y personas, las configuraciones de las familias, los fantasmas que nos hacen compañía, lo que no podemos nombrar pero que nos acompaña siempre.
English translation by William Gregory
‘Cassandra, Sandra’ will be performed at the Omnibus Theatre on July 30th, directed by Kate O’Connor. Click here for more details.
More from the ‘Cassandra, Sandra’ team:
One-minute watch: Chilean author Gabriela Aguilera on her play CASSANDRA SANDRA and how theatre connects us to other worlds. More at https://t.co/99Lu5ljL57 #ootw2019 @OmnibusTheatre pic.twitter.com/CTHpuwrjy7
— Outofthewings (@Outofthewings) July 19, 2019
'It's the unexpected things that can really let us understand what home means to us'. Director @K2themountain on the power of small discoveries in CASSANDRA, SANDRA by Gabriela Aguilera.
See this new play from #Chile at @OmnibusTheatre July 30. #OOTW2019https://t.co/99Lu5ljL57 pic.twitter.com/1UJlrgLZAx
— Outofthewings (@Outofthewings) July 26, 2019
The power of small acts of kindness…
Translator @wjg22 reflects on what inspires him in Gabriela Aguilera's CASSANDRA, SANDRA.
See this new play from #Chile, directed by @K2themountain at #OOTW2019 at @OmnibusTheatre, Tuesday July 30.https://t.co/99Lu5ljL57 pic.twitter.com/kqtrYRpvax
— Outofthewings (@Outofthewings) July 28, 2019
