Emma Arquillué, protagonist of 'Romeo and Juliet': "I like the sugarcane romanticism, not the soft one"

Capulet goes to the appointment without a nurse, and also wears a motorcycle helmet.

She is Emma Arquillué, a 27-year-old actress born in Terrassa who these days plays the eternal lover of Romeo in the production of Shakespeare's play that the company La Brutal under the direction of David Selvas represents at the Poliorama theater in Barcelona.

The interpreter, with a shirt with puffed sleeves that would not be out of place in the original Verona of the unfortunate lovers or

as they say now, is the daughter (she has a twin sister) of Pere Arquillué, one of the best current actors of the Catalan theater .

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Ask.

His father is rehearsing the role of God in

, is that intimidating?

Response.

He has done so many things... We have coincided for a few days on the billboard, I with

at the Poliorama, he with an extraordinary monologue at the Romea, 500 meters from each other.

His theater, which I have seen since I was a child, has made a deep impression on me;

his virtuosity, his self-demand.

At ten years old I told her that she wanted to be an actress.

And at 16 I went out with him in Oriol Broggi's

in which she starred.

She said two replicas and made many characters, pastry chef, nun, soldier, to make a bulk.

When he finished he told me: 'Ok, here begins your path'.

Q.

Now you even have your own company.

R.

Yes, La Bella Otero, with my partner, Pablo Macho, who is a playwright, actor and director.

Q.

How about Juliet?

R.

Very good, very comfortable from the first day.

The director told me that she had to be born in me and I have found her in my most adolescent and pubertal self.

In the hour and forty minutes of the show, she matures very quickly, you see her get older because of everything she lives.

So there I can also find her with my mature self.

I am fresh, pure, but also very rational.

P.

In the play you are 13 years old.

That's not much, even if you're Elizabethan.

R.

But it has a lot of fabric, it is very extreme, it lives everything intensely;

she has traditionally made it softer, I, with the director, have wanted to give it more

;

it is she and not Romeo who makes the decisions.

The one who has in her hands the power to change things.

I want her to have power, with all her innocence.

P.

The show is full of TikTok aesthetics and atmosphere C. Tangana, is Shakespeare distorted?

R.

It has not seemed to us that we did any shit to Shakespeare, but now there is not so much romanticism and so clouded.

Things are today more than here I catch you.

It's an approach for today's youth, and it works!

Then they will go to find the complete words of Shakespeare, here they discover that he was not the bore they thought.

Many tell us I want to go to the theater more!

Q.

What do you like most and what moves you most about what Julieta says?

R.

The "what hides a name?", which seems to me the engine of the work, and the "window lets in the day and lets my life out."

Q.

What characters would you like to play as Shakespeare?

R.

Hamlet, of course;

I played Brutus in a workshop on

staged only with women.

Q.

Ophelia?

There is some resemblance to Juliet.

A.

I love Ophelia;

yes, they are girls who know what they want and who end up tragically because of their families.

They are both brave.

P.

The two commit suicide, something unfortunately very current.

R.

Suicide is more present than is thought among the very young, we are not aware;

they Yes.

We considered that Julieta not die, we did not want her to die for romantic love.

Finally, her suicide is not because Romeo is dead, but because she is devastated by the panorama that is upon her.

Q.

Are you romantic?

R.

I am quite romantic.

But I don't like the fluff, the soft stuff.

I like a sugarcane romanticism.

In the end, love is the force that moves us.

P.

What do you think of the debate on the ethical limits when doing theater?

R.

You have to find new ways.

Everything was so normalized that you didn't even realize they were abusing you.

You have to set limits.

That implies having a lot of communication, talking, being respectful, having empathy.

The interpretation does not happen by having to poke your guts.

I don't think it's necessary.

I see it more as a game, a trade.

I love falling in love with Romeo every night, but it's not me: it's Juliet.

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