César Ritter stars in Escape room, a Spanish comedy that puts the characters to the limit, in the Japanese Peruvian Theater. The text directed by Juan Carlos Fisher has more than one parallelism about our politics. “They are two couples who, faced with fear, they begin to bring out the worst in them and many truths”, the actor tells us. “I read her and she seemed very powerful to me, also because of the moment we are going through, she joined our reality,” he adds.
—Fisher says that it speaks to intolerance and that it reflects us in some way. Do you think the same?
-Completely. There is a current of… polarizing and it is working for politicians because that is how they cover up or gain supporters and cover up their misdeeds, their complaints and other things a bit.
—You came from doing stand-comedy, how do you build this character?
—I read it a lot and it had several images, I have taken them from people who seemed to me to be similar. I felt that he was like a child who needed hugs and support. He is trying to be applauded and praised. I have had to humanize him and embrace him, otherwise I would not have been able to play the character. He is a conservative, he is someone from a very conservative family in such a macho society.
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—In our present day, how necessary is it to laugh at oneself?
-A lot. I think that in these times we have realized that fear brings out the worst in us… the pandemic, politics. So, I think you have to de-dramatize to be able to dialogue. In the end, they have pushed us to have to decide between two sides that are totally alien to the majority of Peruvians who seek the common good. It has been demonized and labels have been used, as in the whole world. Now there is violence, it is not possible to reach agreements and that suits the extremes.
—At some point you were also questioned by a politician on social networks. What do you think this violence is due to?
—It is because they have put us all in the same bag so that we try not to express an opinion, that they silence us. I think the majority do not want any of these politicians. The fight between right and left is absurd in this country, because the left is hand in hand with the extreme right, right now we are seeing it, they are together. The ‘caviar’ or ‘no caviar’ thing is laughable because now no politician represents anyone, it is the saddest political class we have ever had —and that we have already had bad enough—, but hopefully there will be representatives of the left, of the center and from the right that are worth it. They have called me everything: ‘facho’ and, on the other hand, ‘caviar’.
—Speaking of cinema, Dead of laughter already has a release date.
—It has been done with the support of the people, we have raised funds and it was done, I am very proud of my work and the team. My character is a host of a comedy show who stops laughing and making people laugh, after the death of his father, so he decides to find the real root of the problem. The humor he used was to attack and belittle others, but he seeks help and realizes that for humor it is necessary to look inside.
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—Will more than one on television feel identified?
“Probably several.” I have felt very identified, I read it and it moved me in a brutal way. I feel like he’s the character I’ve most enjoyed playing in my life. It has also helped me see myself. He questioned me as a son, as a father, as a friend… it has been very enriching.
