"It all comes down to appearance," says Rodrigo Rato on stage. His theatrical alter ego speaks, of course, of politics and power, but also of recent Spain and of ourselves. And if we follow the top of the ex-president of the Government, former minister of Economy, former president of the IMF and Bankia, today imprisoned in Soto del Real for the case of black cards, the theatrical season that starts this month has a dominant appearance: the name of Pablo Remón

A couple of years ago the journalist José Luis Romo defined it in these same pages as "the prodigy boy off ." Today Pablo Remón has a place in his own right in the Spanish scene. Dreams and visions of Rodrigo Rato, written with four hands next to Roberto Martín Maiztegui and directed by Raquel Alarcón (from today in the Pavón Kamikaze Theater), is the first of the five works with which the Madrid billboard will take.

"I do not know if I am a prodigy boy, but I am developing the works that I have wanted and that I feel is a continuous challenge. The theater is a very delicate, subtle and complex art in which I always feel like a beginner, and I really like that feeling, "he analyzes. The turning point of Pablo Remón's career came in 2015, when he premiered almost among friends The abduction of Luis Guzmán and was nominated for Max for Best Revelation Authorship with 40 years of peace. There he laid the foundations of a theater of seemingly simple dialogues but full of meaning, which allow a sharp dissection of the ordinary man and a subtle and delicate mixture of comedy and tragedy linked with a fine and underground humor, the house's mark. Works such as The Treatment , which in June will return to the Pavón Kamikaze Theater, or The Mariachis finish making Remón one of the great talents of the current dramaturgy.

" Rodrigo Rato is a mythical figure who was in the years of the economic miracle and lived, like everyone else, how Spain became Europe: the economic boom and how it became a shadowy thing. It is a core figure of what It has happened in the last 20 years in Spain. It seemed to me that there were many characters in it and that is something very rich for fiction, "he explains. Because the work, winner of the SGAE Jardiel Poncela Award in 2017, is a portrait of Spanish corruption but also of the miseries and lights of a society that went from ecstasy to hangover. "Rato is like a Shakespeare character, a milestone," he adds. A Ricardo III who Remón does not judge, but who, he confesses, has generated curiosity and empathy in equal parts.

Rato himself, Aznar, Rajoy, Fraga and even the histrionic Chimo Bayo parade across the stage in this sociological radiography that was going to be a document play, but it has become a mixture of real facts and statements with the most hilarious fiction . In addition, it will be the first time that another director directs a work of his .

"What have I learned from him? I get the feeling that there is a force that pulls one according to his birthday that brings him closer to things he does not foresee. huge like Bankia's or that he would follow in his father’s wake. " Remón refers to a little known episode of the politician's life: his father's arrest in 1966 for tax evasion. "When Bankia went public, we were sold that we bought Rato's solvency, not from the entity or what the reports were saying. It was an advertisement. We were sold to the architect of the economic miracle capable of converting water into wine . It is the appearance and that also happens when we vote: I like it well or badly. We should vote ideologies and not appearances. Politics, I don't care about the game, it's becoming a Twitter and Instagram policy, we have a policy of stone cardboard. "

In December Remón will direct for the first time a text that is not his: Abduction. Doña Rosita , annotated (Teatros del Canal), a free version of Federico García Lorca's work that, despite initial doubts, "is becoming my most personal project." Also, already in March and at the Pavón Kamikaze Theater, he will translate and adapt a text: Betrayal , by Harold Pinter, which will be directed by Israel Elejalde. Perhaps it is one of more special projects because if he, who came from the world of cinema, has fallen in love with the theater it has been thanks to the English author. "I consider myself an absolute fan of Pinter. This work is a commitment of mine and thanks," he emphasizes. The drum roll will arrive in June with Las ficciones , one of the most anticipated works of the season in which he will direct Carmen Machi, Barbara Lennie and Irene Escolar. Right now he is writing for them and can hardly count except that, like The treatment , it will have a very cinematic air.

"The truth is that I could not anticipate how the theater has abducted me. It has me very hooked, " says Remón. A challenge? Keep writing and directing your own works and, on the horizon, "write a series in theater, but I need time." This season is not enough because his name is going to be one of the most repeated of the Madrid billboard. It is the year of the consecration of Pablo Remón.

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