Gerardo Vera, the man with the most lives on our scene

• Gerardo Vera, total creator, dies at 73

He directed Nuria Espert, Amparo Baró, Concha Velasco and even the Argentine Empire.

He won two Goyas, for the artistic direction of

and for the costumes of

.

In fact, she claimed that she had said no to a Steven Spielberg project.

She put on a great folkloric show for Expo 92 and collaborated with Zubin Metha on an opera for battled Garden.

Also on TVE he left his mark on the legendary program

.

He was a set designer, costume designer, actor, filmmaker, cultural manager and artistic director.

but, above all, Gerardo Vera was a man of the theater, a total creator who encompassed different artistic disciplines and who leaves behind an immeasurable legacy.

The stage director died yesterday of pneumonia after testing positive for COVID-19.

He had a month left to begin rehearsals for a

starring Carlos Hipólito, who was to open the new stage of Alfredo Sanzol at the Centro Dramático Nacional, an institution that he himself directed from 2004 to 2011.

But, at 73, this was just one of the many projects he had in mind.

He also wanted to adapt

for La Joven Compañía, he was preparing a version of

for the Teatro de la Zarzuela and was eager to put on

, an actress he adored.

Many of the admirers of his work will not be able to enjoy his exquisite taste in these projects, just as he could not get to re-run

, his great theatrical success, an emblematic montage of our scene due to the death of Amparo Baró.

A committed intellectual and a man of strong character, Gerardo Vera was the son of a high official in the Falange.

Born in Miraflores de la Sierra in 1947, his childhood was spent in Torrelaguna and as a child the world of show business seemed to seek him out.

, who stayed at his manor house during the filming of

.

"Sophia was amused by me. She was smiling at me," she recalled to Aisge.

Vera received a careful education for a time when misery was still palpable in Franco's Madrid.

She spoke English through her studies at the Official School of Languages and the British Institute which led her to enroll in English Philology.

That opened the doors to London, where he studied at prestigious set design schools.

In this way she entered the world of theater, which for her was always her passion.

"

for me. I did a lot of food jobs."

Back in Spain, he began in the theater through the committed company Tábano, directed by

.

There she coincided with actors such as Gloria Muñoz, Santiago Ramos or Petra Martínez.

With this formation she stirred the cultural foundations of the dictatorship thanks to her controversial montages.

Like a large part of the theater professionals of his time, he participated in the mythical

, but as a decorator in

and

.

For the big screen, he worked as a decorator and costume designer, collaborating with greats such as Saura and Gutiérrez Aragón.

Then he would sit in the director's chair himself.

In 1992 he made his debut as a filmmaker with

, a

of Edgar Neville's classic

, performed by Imanol Arias, Antonio Banderas and Ángela Molina.

The truth is that Vera directed a whole generation of our

: Penélope Cruz, Maribel Verdú, Juan Diego Botto and Candela Peña in

Javier Bardem, Ariadna Gil and Jordi Molla in

, a film about the double life of a homosexual who helped open cabinets in Spain not so

of the

late 90s

of the relationship that linked him to the theatrical adapter José Luis Collado.

But let's go back to the theater: Vera was an assistant to historical names like Emilio Burgos, Sigfredo Burmann or the legendary Victor María, Vitín, Cortezo and was fascinated with the talent of Francisco Nieva.

Specifically, he wrote that for

,

He would take his witness creating some of the most spectacular scenery of the 70s and 80s. "He did very risky things. He built huge walls, which had not been seen here, because of my training in London," he recalled.

He liked being fearless and groundbreaking.

As a stage director, his great opportunity would come with

.

By then, he already had the National Theater Award.

He was the first set designer to win it.

During her years at the helm of the María Guerrero Theater and the Valle-Inclán Theater, Vera sank her teeth into the great titles and playwrights of the international repertoire:

Within the Spanish repertoire, she approached Valle-Inclán but he never dared with Lorca.

He assured that his depth and poetry frightened him.

Of course, he was not afraid of the divas on the scene.

There were few greats that he did not lead.

Nuria Espert, Amparo Baró, Marisa Paredes, Carmen Machi, Julieta Serrano, Nati Mistral, Terele Pávez ... As for men, Carlos Hipólito won the Valle-Inclán Award for

, at his command, and transformed Juan Echanove in Quevedo and in a fearsome Karamazov.

One of his greatest hits was a

starring the sensational Alfredo Alcón.

But, without a doubt, the show for which many spectators will remember him will be

by Tracy Letts.

What could have been a southern soap opera became a family dissection tinged with Greek tragedy.

The cast was terrific: Amparo Baró, Carmen Machi, Irene Escolar, Alicia Borrachero, Antonio Gil ... With flashes of extremely black humor and

the monumental montage was hypnotic.

It lasted almost four hours but the public followed it without a cough.

There were nudges for tickets and superlative criticism.

Without a doubt, a historical production of the Dramatic Center.

Beyond his role as director, at the head of the CDN, Vera will be remembered for having given way to a new generation of directors and authors who now stand out in our theater.

Two good examples are Alfredo Sanzol or José Luis Arellano.

Today many of them pay tribute to him, like the teacher he was.

A total creator who lived more than one life ... or so it seems to recall his legacy.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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