The award-winning actor from Anti-riot and La casa de papel Hovik Keuchkerian will be on the bill from May 27 to 30 at the OFF room in València with A howitzer in the heart, by the renowned writer Wajdi Mouawad. From the hand of the Valencian company l’Om Imprebís and under the direction of Santiago Sánchez, Hovik returns to interpret what was his first dramatic work on stage after filling the Luchana theaters in Madrid for five months in the midst of a pandemic.
Now it is the Sala Off that bets on this moving monologue of exile and uprooting, which is the autobiographical story of the author of the play, but which could also be that of the actor himself. Both Hovik, to an Armenian father and a Spanish mother, and Mouawad were born in Beirut and had to leave the country at a young age due to the Lebanese civil war. “A story that will break hearts and that will make the public who step on our room reflect” as pointed out by the director and founder of Sala Off, Pedro Giménez.
“What has happened to me since I played Wahab; Everything that Santiago Sánchez has been teaching me, turning over me, plus all the functions that we carry, is that there is going to be a little bit of Wahab in each and every one of the characters that I do because there is already a little bit of Hovik in Wahab and Wahab in Hovik ”, comments the protagonist of A howitzer in the heart, after six years on stage with interruptions due to other professional commitments in which Hovik has revealed himself as one of the actors of the moment. For Sánchez “it is gratifying when the shows can live so long because they take on their full dimension along the way, which is shocking not only for the artist, but also for the viewer.”
Released in 2014 to critical acclaim, A Howitzer in the Heart tells the story of Wahab (Hovik Keuchkerian), a young Lebanese man living in Canada. One cold night, in a strange city, he receives a call in the middle of the night that triggers an inner journey full of pain, reunion and redemption through time and space. Although perhaps it all started when he had to leave his country, its warmth, the day he forgot the shape of his mother’s face, the day a shell pierced his heart. Hovik, who before being an actor was a professional boxer, unfolds a range of characters to show us Wahab in four stages of his life along with the rest of the figures that cross his path. The adaptation and direction by Santiago Sánchez concentrates all the dramatic load on Hovik through a simple scenography and lighting that determines the space and temporal transitions.
Precisely, not only in the text but also in the form lies the strength of the theater of Wajdi Mouawad, one of the most exceptional contemporary playwrights, author also of the acclaimed
Fires. With a very particular way of writing that makes an impact on the public, Mouawad is capable of transferring the cinematographic language to the theater, mixing flashbacks and the present in the same scene. When this spatial-temporal representation is manifested through a single character, as is the case with Wahab in Un howitzer in the heart, the result is sublime. “When the actor sees, the public sees”, affirms Santiago Sánchez to summarize the dramaturgy of Wajdi Mouawad.
Hovik Keuchkerian, from Spanish boxing champion to award-winning actor
Actor, author and elite athlete, Hovik Keuchkerian has starred in the films Justi & Cia alongside Álex Angulo and 4 cans with Jean Reno, as well as participating in Assassin’s Creed with Jeremy Irons, Michel Fassbinder and Marion Cotillard, and in The Night Manager with Hugh Laurie . For his role in Alacran Enamorado he received the award for best actor from the Union of Actors and was nominated for a Goya for best new actor. He has recently been recognized with the Feroz and Forqué Awards as the best leading actor for playing Osorio in Antidisturbios. He has also been named Audiovisual Person of the Year in the Ibero-American Awards of the ABC newspaper for this same role and for the role of Bogotá in La casa de paper. Resiliente is his album with his own poems and music by Yuri Méndez. In 2003 and 2004, he was proclaimed champion of Spain in boxing in the heavyweight category.
Santiago Sanchez
He is one of the Spanish directors with the greatest projection in recent years and one of the most awarded (Prize for Performing Arts of the Generalitat Valenciana, Ercilla de Bilbao Prize, Rojas de Toledo Prize, Person of the Year from the Carolina Torres Foundation and Medal of Honor of the Latin American Center for Theatrical Creation and Research). His stage proposals are very varied: from directing great classics, such as Cervantes, Zorrilla, Chejov or Brecht, to contemporary and innovative proposals, such as Monty Python, Albert Camus or Koltés. Founder of the company L’Om Imprebís and of ALEA (International Research Center for the Art of Improvisation), his collaborations with the National Dramatic Center (Transition or Aquiles and Pentesilea), the Roman Theater of Mérida (Calígula), the Theaters of the Generalitat Valenciana and the National Theater of the Zarzuela (Don Juan or The wedding and dance of Luis Alonso).
L’Om Imprebís, 38 years on stage
L’OM IMPREBÍS is a Valencian theater company founded and directed by Santiago Sánchez. Since 1983 it has consolidated a production brand that includes a wide and varied repertoire that ranges from the great classical texts such as Quixote or Don Juan to reference works of universal dramaturgy such as Galileo by Bertolt Brecht or Calígula by Albert Camus, and contemporary authors as Wajdi Mouawad. With Imprebís she was a pioneer in introducing improvisation in Spain in 1994. In 2021, L’Om Imprebís celebrates its 38th anniversary with 22 of its own productions and more than 6,000 performances behind it. The company has performed in the main theaters and festivals in Spain, as well as in other international events and venues.
Sala Off, one of the benchmark alternative scenic spaces in the city of Valencia.
The Sala Off is one of the benchmarks of the Valencian performing arts. Founded and directed by Pedro Giménez, this room celebrates its 20th anniversary next season. A scenic space through which
A multitude of professionals and productions from inside and outside the Valencian Community have passed through, offering all kinds of companies a place to express themselves and show their art.
The Sala Off currently has two different spaces that allow the representation of all kinds of shows from productions aimed at family audiences to contemporary dramatic theater. With a stable program throughout the year, this room has become one of the benchmark alternative scenic spaces in the city of Valencia.
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