“MY” HOTEL SPLENDID

When I visited Korea, being invited by Pams, there were many things that surprised me. The variety of cultural offers, in as much as the high quality they showed, where most interesting. Plays, music, or clowns, they all surprised and interested me so much! I was very delighted also with the organization which was excellent and all the possibilities given for the artists to know each other and to make presentations in other countries too.

When I left Buenos Aires, I already had my mind on the participation of Korea in the FIBA 2009. Korea had never before participated in this event. In Pams, when I started to see the immense quantity of productions that they showed, I had many doubts. There were so many possible shows. But which among all of them would be the best for Buenos Aires?  We had to select the right one to please our large and exigent audience. Would the dance be the best way to connect? We had to risk it and try to be original or should we choose from a political point of view? I saw dance and comedy. But, when I saw Hotel Splendid, I knew that it was the ideal choice. I think that the political speech within this play, the lack of knowledge in this part of the world as of what a group of women went through during World War ll , and the way the story is told, they all seemed most important and a sure impact  on Buenos Aires. Also, the FIBA wanted to show on stage political points of view which had been absent in its last editions. We thought that it was time to show again the theatre scene as a forum of new ideas, to put thoughts as way to give a new life to the theater. itself.

On my way back from Pams, going to Buenos Aires, I showed to the other artistic  codirector, Rubén Szuchmacher, the material I brought from Seoul and we decided that Hotel Splendid was the one that we had to bring. It was a long process of mails and contracts and the choice of the right theatre for the visiting play. It had to have a revolving stage, which is not an easy thing to find in Buenos Aires. There are very little like that here. So different from Korea where all the theatres are so well equipped with all the necessary technology. We have many technical problems in the theatres of Argentina. We have many very beautiful theatres, but that haven’t been equipped in many years, and also many of them have a maintenance problem. We decided to take the play to the Theatre Martin Coronado of the San Martin Theatrical Complex. This is the most important art Complex of the city and it is right downtown, on Corrientes Avenue which is well known as the “theater avenue”. This Complex is about to celebrate its 50th anniversary. It has 4 theatre halls and we chose the biggest one for Hotel Splendid, it seats 1000 people. Hotel Splendid had 3 shows so we had to gather three thousand persons. I can now admit that it scared us a bit! We were bringing a very new artistic product and we didn’t know how the public would react!

I remember when I met with the visiting group at the festival bar; it was two days before the opening of the play, that they were worried also. They were curious to see how the public outside Korea would react. It had never been shown Hotel Splendid outside Korea and they feared that maybe it would be too “corean” for this public to understand. At the same time, they were very happy to have arrived to Buenos Aires and that they would be able to show their work, and also very happy because all the set (which was made in Argentina because of its high costs of shipping it from Korea), would be fine and also because the floor revolved. I was very touched to be talking to them there in the bar, because I had met them and talked to some of them in Seoul.

The premiere arrived, first show, the theatre was completely full! I couldn’t make it to the first show, but when the play ended, the person in charge of the theatre, called us and told us “ this is incredible, its wild, people cry, people are standing up and clapping !”  We were all so happy. Then the critics in the newspapers..…they just loved Korea! The most prestigious cultural newspaper in Buenos Aires, called “La Nacion “, wrote “Excellent”. They said that  only for this play.

The following shows had the same answer from the public and the press. Tickets were all sold out and many people weren’t able to see it. I had the joy to see the last show, it was so strong, you could feel the bond between the public and the players and the sensation of an approaching farewell put a bit of gray in the euphoria expressed. One of the most important theatre critics in this part of the world told me, almost as a secret, that something very rare happened to him while watching the show. He said “I am always distant when I see a play, I see so many weekly, and I found myself standing up and screaming and jumping up and down with my “bravos!” “when the play ended!”

We have already made up our minds, we are bringing once more something from Korea for the FIBA 2011, and we will soon start to search for it. The question we ask ourselves is “what will we find after seeing Hotel Splendid?

Alberto Ligaluppi
Artistic Director of FIBA