The repentant

It is summer 2006 in Sweden. Orlando and Mikael are facing each other for the first time. They are over 60 years old and have a conversation ahead of them about what, to their surprise, they share: They have both gone through different genres throughout their lives. The transcription of that first conversation between them is the text of The Regrets, by the Swedish artist, writer and director Marcus Lindeen. The play comes to Chile in a co-production by GAM and Teatro de la Palabra, directed by Víctor Carrasco.

Orlando and Mikael are two older adults who, in that first meeting, talk about the different moments, circumstances and motivations of their sex change operations, life before and after them, and what made them no longer want to live as women. "Do you need to have a new penis? Can't you live as you are? You're still you with or without a penis," says one of them. They are two different people, who talk about their lives, problems, strategies, memories, reflections and dreams. From how they chose their female name to the techniques they used to hide that they were born as men.

It has been more than 15 years since a play brought together these two greats of Chilean theater in its cast: Rodrigo Pérez and Alfredo Castro. Alfredo here plays Orlando, a young gay man who grew up when it was illegal to be gay and who in 1967 decided to have surgery, being one of the first sex changes in Sweden. Rodrigo plays Mikael, who did it when he was already over 50. Both are characters who, suffocated by not fitting into the restricted conceptions of gender, chose to try one of the binaries and after a while try to change again.

Víctor Carrasco was researching the trans issue when he came across the work, he wrote to the author and stayed up that night reading it. He immediately decided to do it. "What seemed super transgressive to me is that it opened a door to something that is almost taboo, because when starting a path, it seems that it is a path of no return. And the work is about the search for identity as a process that does not end. It is not about trial and error, but about the fact that there are other forms of search. And it does it with honesty, because they are not modifying their speech to seem super progressive, because they are ordinary people who make such a complex decision and are capable of rethinking their lives," he says. Victor.

The work reveals changes in social and personal times, which are even reflected in real photos of Orlando and Mikael that are part of the montage.

The Regrets has been translated into French, German, Norwegian, English and Spanish. There is also a documentary of the same name, also by Marcus Lindeen.

Post-function conversation March 31, 2019

Author: Marcus Lindeen
Translation: Constanza Brieba
Direction and space design: Víctor Carrasco
Director assistance: David Gaete
Cast: Alfredo Castro and Rodrigo Pérez
Lighting design: Andrés Poirot
Audiovisual design: Javier Pañella and Nicole Senerman
Sound design: Daniel Marabolí
Musical composition: Fernando Milagros and Diego Perinetti
Executive production: Bárbara Nash
Field production: Manuel Morgado
Photography: Alejandro Bustos

Previous seasons

The play is a GAM - Teatro de La Palabra co-production, and premiered on May 24, 2018, with a season that extended until July 8.

It was also part of the XXVI version of the Santiago a Mil 2019 International Festival, with three performances between January 3 and 5.