Mexico City. At 96 years old, Ignacio López Tarso prefers to memorize his “difficult Shakespearean or classical texts” at dawn, “in the absolute silence of my studio, where I spend a lot of time” because “I am an actor who tells stories of great quality”.
My life, said the actor, is the theater. “I became an actor to be a theater; because when I was studying there was still no television in Mexico; In 1950 I entered the small screen very early and met Don Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta, a man of great drive and visionary ”who laid the foundations of what is now a powerful means of communication.
López Tarso, who chatted with The Day via Zoom, on his “magnificent return” to the stage, with the play A life in the theaterAfter two years of inactivity, he says he is optimistic after having received his second dose of the vaccine and motivated to feel the energy of the public again on July 3, at the Ocampo theater, in Cuernavaca, Morelos, where he will be accompanied by his son Juan Ignacio Aranda. “We are about to return to what theater is, really,” said the actor, who remains active and celebrates 73 years of experience.
The two face-to-face functions in the Morelos venue, as well as those that will continue in various states of the country, are an incentive for the actor, since “the presence of the public is what makes the theater attractive.”
After having starred in five streamings In a duo with Aranda, he stated: “One never gets used to the virtual, to not having the assistants; one knows they are seeing you, but we do not see them and that takes away that great stimulus, because although they remain silent, the evidence that they are there makes the actor excited, enjoy and enjoy being on stage ”.
Thus, he continued, “I have enjoyed the rest of my life, with the audience present in a theater room; I have visited almost all the theaters in the country and in Mexico City; I had the fortune to inaugurate around 60 campuses that the Mexican Institute of Social Security built, with an immense and wonderful investment. The theater never had such support from the State; then the popular theater was forged, with performances in open-air squares, where King Oedipus O Uncle Vania, by Antón Chejov ”.
Regarding what moment he is in, López Tarso did not hesitate and underlined that he is excited to return to the stage, “working directly for the public; that’s what an actor dreams of; communicate with the audience and feel their immediate reaction, the applause, almost hearing their breathing and the beating of their heart when the venue is silent, that is wonderful ”.
The best thing, “is that the pandemic is giving way and I hope we are close to achieving it to return to normality, the closest to what we had before.”
He stressed: “The most important thing is that the economy recovers, that Mexicans have a job and what to bring to the family, the essentials, which is to eat and go to school. I hope that the future is much better, that better times come, after this terrible crisis ”.
Ignacio López Tarso, could be considered a Guinness record, since “there is no 96-year-old actor, active, who in the middle of a pandemic has made six streamings; In 2016 alone, he did three works and was on tour; In addition, over the course of two weeks, he offered 20 performances, more than any actor, ”commented Juan Ignacio Aranda.
In López Tarso’s biography, he highlights that he is one of the most recognized Mexican actors in the world and adds more than a thousand unit programs, series and telenovelas such as Storm, The carriage, Path of Glory, Crystal Empire; He also recorded eight LPs, with 100 corridos such as: Zapata, Villa, Benito Canales, The Deserter, La Maquinita Y Valente Quintero and has received more than 200 national and foreign awards.
He lent his voice in the dubbing of the grandfather in Hotel Transylvania and has starred in more than 50 films, among which stand out, Macario, The Paper Man, The golden rooster, The Useless Life of Pito Pérez, Nazarin, Pedro Paramo, and recently The devil knows more about being old.
While for theater “his great passion” has performed more than 100 works such as King Oedipus, Hipólito, Macbeth, Othello, The Lear King, The miser, Cyrano de Bergerac, Dear liar, Dracula, 12 Wrestling Men, Macario, Elsa and Fred, The Tempest, The postman, A Picasso, Airplanes Y The father, among many others.
Now with A life in the theater, by David Mamet, directed by Salvador Garcini, “I will return with great enthusiasm, because I am recovering the text, the intention of the work, preparing it with my son so that it will be of interest and shorter”. On July 3 there will be two performances, at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. at the Ocampo Theater and there will also be an E-Ticket transmission.
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