Julio Manrique

(Law, 1995)

Actor, director and playwright

— Why did you decide to study law?

— When I was 17, I still didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. I wasn’t a bad student, I was drawn to the humanities, I liked to write… I think that my plan, to the extent that I had one at all, was to study law and then, later, put in an additional two years to earn a journalism degree too. That would give me time to see whether I wanted to be a lawyer or a journalist, or a writer or who knows what else? But what actually happened is that, at university, I discovered theatre.

— How did this training help you in your career?

— My favourite subject was philosophy of law. Basically, we studied language and its ambivalence. Words don’t have just one meaning; we have to interpret them. Thinking about language in this way has been very useful to me in my work as an actor, and also as a director. I think that, with a good text, you essentially have to question it. I began to learn that at the Faculty of Law.

— During your studies, you participated in the university’s Theatre Workshop. What memories do you have of that?

— I have very fond memories of that. It is where I found my calling. Josep Maria Mestres, the workshops’ director at the time, is largely responsible for that. He took me by the hand and guided me as I took my first steps. I can never be thankful enough to him for that. Also, it was a very strong group. Guillem Jordi Graells, a founding member of Teatre Lliure, gave classes there; Pere Planella, also from Teatre Lliure, taught a few classes... It was a real luxury!

When I was starting the third year of my programme, Mestres was preparing a play, Class Enemy. He needed very young actors and was holding auditions, basically, among students from the Theatre Institute. He knew I was dying to give it a try, so he let me try out, and… that year I failed a lot of classes. And I was very happy.

— What advice would you give students interested in following this path?

— I don’t like to give advice. To borrow from Goytisolo’s ‘Words for Julia’, I am still on my way. I think that theatre and, more broadly, acting are built on passion. It is a passionate choice. The years, the work, the professional and life experiences will let you experience this passion more deeply, let you answer some questions only to raise new ones regarding your chosen path. If the flame dies out, it doesn’t make sense to keep insisting. I would tell them to ask themselves if this is really something they love. Or, better yet, have them discover that for themselves.

— Actor, director and playwright. Which hat do you like wearing best?

— I like to act, and I like to direct. And I would like to have enough patience to be able to sit down and write with a certain degree of regularity, but, unfortunately, I don’t. Or I don’t ‘yet’. Time will tell… I like being able to tell stories. I find it exciting. Because I like having stories told to me; it’s also something I find exciting.

— You have also held management positions, such as the artistic director of Teatro Romea. What is it like to experience theatre from that perspective?

— The responsibility weighed on me, and I wasn’t really able to enjoy it enough at the time. Now, though, I can see how much I learned. Handling the programming for a theatre forces you to look at things from a new and different perspective. In that sense, I guess it helped broaden my understanding of my profession.

— Today you are a very familiar (and renowned) face in Catalan theatre. What is that like for you?

— The fact that people recognize you can be nice and it can be annoying, but it’s not worth losing sleepover. Being recognized by people you care about or even admire, now that is a great gift. When it happens, you can’t help but feel pleased. I think I have been very lucky in my profession. I would have to be an idiot or just plain petty not to see that and feel grateful for it.

— You seem like someone who is always doing something. What are you planning now?

— Projects: Speed the Plow by David Mamet, which, for the first time, I will be both acting in and directing. It will premiere at the Temporada Alta festival of performing arts in Girona, and will be at Teatre Borràs in November. In December and January, it’s back to King Lear, at Teatre Lliure. And in March, at the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya (TNC), I will be starring in Molière’s Don Juan, which will be directed by David Selvas. And, fortunately, a long etc.