las fellini or a lascivious little red riding hood in old bilbao myriam garzia
Oskar Delgado (Nagore Gore): “My grandmother is more open-minded than the Mayor of Bilbao.”
“Bambi was a transvestite, too.” That’s the opening line in this interview with the dangerous blonde from Bilbao, Nagore Gore. Las Fellini, 11 years of stage cabaret under their belt, have crossed all the lines there are to be crossed. You’re back and forth between Bilbao and Madrid. What are your projects for the short to mid-term?
We’re already into our third year with our weekly thursday spectacle, “Operacion Travesti” at the Badulake in the Old Quarter of Bilbao. We invite people from our circle to take part in the show because what we do is not just a spectacle based around transformation. The humour is very important, too. At the end of the day, it’s cabaret after all. Acted humour, cabaret… if you had to highlight anything of what we do, it’d have to be that, along with a large dose of improvisation. We are really grateful to the people at Badulake for the effort and work they have done for us. They really helped pull the group out of a serious crisis. But if there is one thing the group has achieved over the last few years it has been the capture of a new generation of viewers. The crowd that comes to see us now is a younger one, university kids that love going out at night. We’ve also spent the Sundays of the last two years with the show “Allo Fellini” in Madrid, at La Boite. Just following along our usual line. We’re also about to start our “CTV” show at the Conjunto Vacio in Bilbao on Fridays. “CTV” stands for Conjunto de Travestis al Vacio (Vac-packed bunch of transvestites.) It’s like a giant party-fest once a month with big-name transvestites. We hope to bring in La Terremoto de Alcorcon on October the 19th. They also been in touch with us from Galicia wanting to know if we want to take part in the Puticlú Festival. We’ll also be appearing at the Barcelona Erotic Festival. We’ll also be celebrating Las Fellini’s anniversary. We intend to hire out the Bilborock Hall and have a huge blow out...
Are the Madrid and Bilbao audiences different?
The important thing is that while they maybe young and open, they are not an audience limited by their sexuality. What I mean is, you don’t have to be gay to come along and enjoy the shows. If a large part of the audience is gay, it’s because a lot of the shows are put on in clubs and theatres on their circuit. But we get all sorts. Maybe the Madrid audience is a bit older, from our generation. The people in Bilbao seem to be younger. The Bilbao crowd is a very loyal one, because they know that even if they come every thursday, the show will be different.
The Old Quarter of Bilbao is you work area. Does it not recall different epochs like La Otxoa’s La Palanca, different times from the Cortes St.?
I don’t think so, I don’t think people relate what we’re doing to that time. It was such a long time ago. But it is true that people used to go along to Cortes St. to see this type of show. There has always been someone who has supported and been behind this type of spectacle, and it’s thanks to people like them that cabaret has survived here. Times are different but there are still married people who have this secret double life. Maybe I don’t want this at home, but at night I’ll come along and see the show. On the other hand, new technologies have also opened up many doors, people upload videos onto the internet, photoblogs... You can be known all over the world.
Have you learnt a lot in the last eleven years?
Yeah, we’ve learnt lots and lots. You’d never believe it but in our everyday normal lives we’re quite dull and boring. But having spent so long up on stage, once you get up there and start to draw the audience into you, here, there... For example, we’ve had time to study audience laughter, audience reaction, the different types... We leave a lot of space for improvisation and you learn when to do what when an dhow. You develop your show that way. You know what will work and what might bomb. There are still a lot classics we have used from the very beginning. We’ve also developed. We didn’t use to improvise, but you overcome any shyness and fear with time. The thing is you have to make people laugh and anything that might get in the way of that connection between you and audience must be removed.
What kind of punch do you hold on the Basque circuit?
Well, we’ve been blacklisted by the institutions. There are a lot of prejudices towards Las Fellini on that level. Prejudices you don’t find on a private level. At the end of the day, if you are contracted, it’s because they know you can pull the punters in through the door and that’s what the business people are interested in. But it’s really strange that a group from Bilbao have not once throughout all the years been asked to participate in the BAD (Bilbo Antzerki Dantza – Bilbao Drama Dance) Festival. We’ve been vetoed from appearing in any festival or spectacle by the Town Hall. Just as well we have the public’s support, and if isn’t let happen here, it’ll happen somewhere else. Thanks to that Las Fellini are still striking out forwards...
“Bambi was a transvestite, too.” That’s the opening line in this interview with the dangerous blonde from Bilbao, Nagore Gore. Las Fellini, 11 years of stage cabaret under their belt, have crossed all the lines there are to be crossed. You’re back and forth between Bilbao and Madrid. What are your projects for the short to mid-term?
We’re already into our third year with our weekly thursday spectacle, “Operacion Travesti” at the Badulake in the Old Quarter of Bilbao. We invite people from our circle to take part in the show because what we do is not just a spectacle based around transformation. The humour is very important, too. At the end of the day, it’s cabaret after all. Acted humour, cabaret… if you had to highlight anything of what we do, it’d have to be that, along with a large dose of improvisation. We are really grateful to the people at Badulake for the effort and work they have done for us. They really helped pull the group out of a serious crisis. But if there is one thing the group has achieved over the last few years it has been the capture of a new generation of viewers. The crowd that comes to see us now is a younger one, university kids that love going out at night. We’ve also spent the Sundays of the last two years with the show “Allo Fellini” in Madrid, at La Boite. Just following along our usual line. We’re also about to start our “CTV” show at the Conjunto Vacio in Bilbao on Fridays. “CTV” stands for Conjunto de Travestis al Vacio (Vac-packed bunch of transvestites.) It’s like a giant party-fest once a month with big-name transvestites. We hope to bring in La Terremoto de Alcorcon on October the 19th. They also been in touch with us from Galicia wanting to know if we want to take part in the Puticlú Festival. We’ll also be appearing at the Barcelona Erotic Festival. We’ll also be celebrating Las Fellini’s anniversary. We intend to hire out the Bilborock Hall and have a huge blow out...
Are the Madrid and Bilbao audiences different?
The important thing is that while they maybe young and open, they are not an audience limited by their sexuality. What I mean is, you don’t have to be gay to come along and enjoy the shows. If a large part of the audience is gay, it’s because a lot of the shows are put on in clubs and theatres on their circuit. But we get all sorts. Maybe the Madrid audience is a bit older, from our generation. The people in Bilbao seem to be younger. The Bilbao crowd is a very loyal one, because they know that even if they come every thursday, the show will be different.
The Old Quarter of Bilbao is you work area. Does it not recall different epochs like La Otxoa’s La Palanca, different times from the Cortes St.?
I don’t think so, I don’t think people relate what we’re doing to that time. It was such a long time ago. But it is true that people used to go along to Cortes St. to see this type of show. There has always been someone who has supported and been behind this type of spectacle, and it’s thanks to people like them that cabaret has survived here. Times are different but there are still married people who have this secret double life. Maybe I don’t want this at home, but at night I’ll come along and see the show. On the other hand, new technologies have also opened up many doors, people upload videos onto the internet, photoblogs... You can be known all over the world.
Have you learnt a lot in the last eleven years?
Yeah, we’ve learnt lots and lots. You’d never believe it but in our everyday normal lives we’re quite dull and boring. But having spent so long up on stage, once you get up there and start to draw the audience into you, here, there... For example, we’ve had time to study audience laughter, audience reaction, the different types... We leave a lot of space for improvisation and you learn when to do what when an dhow. You develop your show that way. You know what will work and what might bomb. There are still a lot classics we have used from the very beginning. We’ve also developed. We didn’t use to improvise, but you overcome any shyness and fear with time. The thing is you have to make people laugh and anything that might get in the way of that connection between you and audience must be removed.
What kind of punch do you hold on the Basque circuit?
Well, we’ve been blacklisted by the institutions. There are a lot of prejudices towards Las Fellini on that level. Prejudices you don’t find on a private level. At the end of the day, if you are contracted, it’s because they know you can pull the punters in through the door and that’s what the business people are interested in. But it’s really strange that a group from Bilbao have not once throughout all the years been asked to participate in the BAD (Bilbo Antzerki Dantza – Bilbao Drama Dance) Festival. We’ve been vetoed from appearing in any festival or spectacle by the Town Hall. Just as well we have the public’s support, and if isn’t let happen here, it’ll happen somewhere else. Thanks to that Las Fellini are still striking out forwards...
