El Hombre del Teatro

El hombre del
teatro

Synopsis

An acclaimed show from the late 1970s does no longer attract the people who once filled the seats. Now the seats are filled only with deep silence and people who have nothing better to do. Gustavo, the director of this show, is in his dressing room, and in the mirror is reflected a message written by his wife, deteriorated by time, showing the love that once existed in their relationship. He gets ready behind the curtain to open the show, and from there he manages to see Pili, his wife, going with a companion to the dressing room. Despite this, he goes on stage forcing a smile, as always, but it is erased when he sees that there are no more than 5 people in the audience. Gustavo then begins to vent to the audience, telling them that they don't come to see his show any more. Backstage, the people in his team are nervous. They don't know how to stop him, and Gustavo is starting to lose it. Gonzalo, the director, decides to send Hannibal, another member of the team, to get him out of there by force. When Gustavo sees this he stops him in his tracks under threat of being thrown out of the show forever. With no one to stop Gustavo, he now starts talking about his relationship, and how his wife is being unfaithful. After this revelation, Gustavo curses the audience and leaves the stage. Back in his dressing room, a man covered in soot opens the door and tells him that the job is done. At that moment Gustavo erases the message from his mirror, implying that Pili is no longer with them. Gustavo shows signs of regret reflected in a cold look despite the fact that he was the one who orchestrated this.

Director
Nico Grau Martínez

Scripwriter
Nando Francisco Gil

INSPIRATION

Our scriptwriter Fernando Francisco is going to tell us about it.

“El Hombre del Teatro” is an audiovisual project that started from a practical project in the CAU subject, Argumentos Universales (Universal Arguments).“I had to think of a famous character and turn their personality upside down, turning them into the opposite of what they really were”

“From the beginning I knew that I wanted to come up with a dark and tragic character, but with a certain ironic attitude, so I had to choose a really comic character. Who better than Gustavo the Frog to become my protagonist?. Changing his characteristic cheerfulness for a depressive attitude, I had him”.

Taking The Muppets Show as an inspiration, this short film was born. It takes the theatricality of their show, the irony and sympathy of its protagonist, and it gives them a 180-degree turn, creating Gustavo, an old glory unable to accept that he is no longer the star he once was.

These are the characters who have starred our short film.

Below you can see the characterization work that the art team has done.

He is an intelligent man with clear ideas. He used to be a star, but that time has passed and he can't take it. His show no longer fills the seats and he blames the audience, his own team and his personal life, but he never takes the blame himself, and because of his inordinate egomania he will never admit it. He thinks that the world is against him and that he is still the star he used to be. This thought will lead him to do crazy things and to let off steam on the little audience that night. He was born and has lived all his life in New York. Since he was a child Gustavo has known the hustle and bustle of this big city, and he knows nothing but big buildings and hurried people.

Miguel Ángel García Tomás as
GUSTAVO

He is a man dedicated to his work and very tidy, and is therefore almost always stressed. He is the person who does the most to make the show go on, even though no one comes to the show anymore. He was Gustavo's friend for a long time, so he gets scared and doesn't know how to react when Gustavo attacks him during his monologue.

Juanjo Prat Gil as
GONZALO

Despite her age, anyone would say she is 20 years younger. She moves around the theatre as if it were her own home, with confidence and always with her head held high. She is married to Gustavo, and although their relationship was widely covered in the newspapers, nowadays no one is interested in it anymore, and she cheats on him with everyone she can, even with such unpleasant characters as Mozzie. She is an old glory and she knows it, but she benefits from it, unlike Gustavo, who only wallows in his own misery. She has accepted who she is and is proud of it, she knows how to make the most of it.

Elisa Martínez Matallín as
PILI

He is not a very bright man; if it weren't for his comedy shows, no one would say he could articulate more than two sentences in a row. He has an affair with Gustavo's wife, Miss Pili, not because of his charm, but because Pilar decided it might be worth the fun.

Victor M. Hurtado as
MOZZIE

Crazy Harry is just the person Gustavo hires. He is an unscrupulous person, who is paid to do a job and he simply carries it out. Beyond that, it is clear that he enjoys his work. He is passionate about everything he exploits.

Mario Díaz AS
CRAZY HARRY

He cares a lot about making the show work, although not as much as Gonzalo. Given that he is the intern, he is very overwhelmed when Gustavo starts to improvise the monologue.

Adrián Gómez as
SCOOTER

Despite being nervous by nature, he has a calm appearance. However, if he gets excited or angry he can be intimidating. He works as a technician in the theatre, but he is used more as “go-to guy”. He is the person who gets the drugs for Gustavo and the same person Gonzalo uses to get him off the stage.

Irdi Jackson as
HANNIBAL

Bea Marchante as
DANCER

Clara Furriol as
DANCER

El hombre del teatro