As she speaks at her home in Madrid, a manicurist does her nails. It’s not that she’s going to be a diva, it’s script demands: she’s preparing a character for a new Netflix series that she can’t comment on. “It’s like the Americans control everything,” he laughs. The actress María Hervás (Madrid, 35 years old) divides between committed theater and more commercial products. With a monologue by Martiño Rivas, he prepares his leap into directing. And he’s gathering recognition: he’s just received the Princess of Girona Award for Arts and Letters, dedicated to people under 35 (he wins in the hair).
Questions. Why were they given?
Answer. The truth is I thought I didn’t stand a chance because very smart people are showing up. Above all, the jury emphasized the social commitment in my theater career that I have tried to cultivate in my projects. Producing my shows, researching the lyrics, writing, jumping into directing… They think I can be a good reference for future generations.
P In his works he has dealt with social inequality (Iphigenia in Vallecas), sexist violence (Jauría) and the oppression of women (Confessions of Allah).
R All projects that come out of me that are not suggestions from outside have this commitment in common.
P And the projects that are not yours? He practiced and is practicing light comedy, the entertainment series…
R A few years ago that caused me a lot of conflicts, I kept asking myself what I was actually saying. It made me a little sleepy. Then, after thinking about it, I realized that what you contribute to the world is far more complex than the impact calculations you can make.
P As?
R For example, many people write to me who are ill, who have depression, who have complicated lives, and just because they are watching light comedy, they feel their weight lightening.
P So she’s a defender of the genre.
R I’m not saying this to save the publicity, I’m criticizing everything, I don’t care. I also think that it portrays characters taken to the extreme that allow us to separate ourselves from ourselves because they are clichés and from that distance we can laugh at certain prototypes that we have with our boss, with our mother, can connect ourselves.
P It is the grotesque of Valle-Inclán.
R Yes, I think that this type of comedy allows us to see realities that other types of much more sensitive products may not be able to show us. I also believe that the value of the things you do, whether it’s dedicated theater like Jauría or a comedy series like El Pueblo, has more to do with how you focus on what you’re doing in each project than with it the project itself. Commitment is something special, it is how you give up.
Years ago, working on commercial products created conflicts for me. No longer
Maria Hervas, actress
P You study philosophy. Third year. And you can see it.
R I do it precisely to resign. I think one of the big problems we have to face in this society is that everything happens so fast and there is such a low consciousness that we think we know everything. We take everything for granted, we even take our own existence for granted. And that can only lead to terrible places. Depression, lack of enthusiasm at work, in relationships, in life. A kind of depression of the soul. It has to do with not being connected, not questioning reality itself.
P Are you enjoying it?
R It’s like being a kid again, looking back at things you’ve overlooked and understanding that there are many narratives that you can give new meanings to, as I think it happens in theater too, with for example Greek tragedies. .
P What about tragedies?
R They were written at a very specific time in a very specific society. And we can’t let these stories keep telling us the same thing. The lyrics are never closed. I feel like directing to get a lot of stuff.
P What interests you most about philosophy?
R Ontology is driving me insane, the study of being: what is human existence, whether it can be defined or understood. I’m amazed at the creativity it took throughout the story to answer such complex questions. Also everything that has to do with language. Deleuze and Guattari fascinate me. And social anthropology, because from an ethnocentric point of view, we believe that our culture is the standard by which all others are measured.
P It is not?
R No, there are so many other ways to do things. If you look at other cultures, for example, we see that capitalism is not indestructible, although they would have us believe it. It occupied a very short time in the historic bar. The world has been governed by other types of economies most of the time, in fact there are many cultures currently governed by a different type of system.
Studying philosophy is like being a child again, looking back at things you overlooked
Maria Hervas, actress
P When do you study?
R In my work there are a lot of tedious waiting times. I don’t mean to say that I only study during the break from shooting, but I take the opportunity to read a lot there. When I wasn’t on Instagram totally hooked. That’s more helpful.
P You are the daughter of a truck driver and a postal worker.
R On the contrary: the driver of the truck was my mother. When my mother started, there were very few carriers. In fact, they often harassed him in the industrial areas. They called her the Trucker Barbie. She was a driver, she didn’t have to load and unload, but they were very hesitant: “If you can drive a truck, you can load it,” they told her.
P How did being born into a working family affect you?
R Fundamental values that have to do with solidarity, with a sense of justice, values that I think are very present in the neighborhoods, especially among workers, in small communities. Solidarity with your neighbor. They are very basic things, but they determine my everyday life.
P Do you keep in touch?
R Well, I bought my house in the same neighborhood across from my parents. That’s important in a job like mine, which takes you to extraordinary live experiences, like being in Cannes and walking the red carpet. It helps me to gain a foothold, to appreciate where I come from. Mainly because the stories I want to tell are those of real people. The artist is in danger: detaching himself from reality and telling things that only interest him.
P She said in El Hormiguero that she gets up many days without wanting to be an actress.
R Acting is the least difficult thing for me, being an actress is the least of my problems. Everything else interests me much less and makes it quite difficult for me.
P For example?
R When you are a young woman, you have to correct the image all the time that you know when you walk through the door of a place. It wastes a lot of energy, it makes me angry, I don’t like it because it’s creative energy that I should put into other things, into writing. It’s extra energy to muster to start from a place more or less similar to that of a cisgender man. That tires me.
P It has been widely pilloried that after 40 actresses have been turned invisible, she doesn’t have that much left.
R. I think we’re seeing a change there. The fourth wave of feminism that I hope will last is changing everything. Women are already producing and telling their own stories, the protagonists do not necessarily correspond to the stereotype of the good girl.
P Her brand new nails are for a Netflix series. The platforms, as you can see, give a lot of work.
R Revitalize the industry. The platforms and the increased consumption of audiovisual media that we have had since the lockdown has created a lot of demand.
P Does this have a dark side?
R They’ve weighed on the industry a bit. We used to charge royalties when your work was sold in other countries, which is reasonable. Because you are now working for these international distribution platforms, they pay you less than before and we never get those rights. We’re all a bit slaves to this new model, not just the cast, but the producers too. The platforms have come to blast the market. But there aren’t many other options than producing for them.
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