Actor; director of theater, cinema and opera; voice actor and arts and culture curator.
Source: Biblioteca Virtual de la Diputació de Barcelona.
By Marc Amat
On the evening of April 3, 1968, the theater of the Institute of North American Studies (IEN) solely filled to capacity. The company GOGO Teatro Experimental Independiente was about to premiere Incident at Vichy, a play by Arthur Miller that had never before been seen in Spain. In the seats, the audience flipped through the program and reviewed the cast members. In the role of doctor Leduc – one of the protagonists of the piece – they found the name Mario Gas. At the time, he was a young man of 22 who had been interested in the performing arts for some time. He had gone to knock on the door of the IEN theater group and Santiago Sans, the founder of the company, had held the door wide open for him. From that day, they worked together on several productions. With the company, Gas managed to direct productions such as A Taste of Honey (1967) by Shelagh Delaney or El Adefesio (1968), by Rafael Alberti.
These were the beginnings of an artistic career that led to Mario Gas being one of the greatest names of the Catalan and Spanish theater scene. In 1976, he directed the Festival Grec in Barcelona and, between 2004 and 2012, he took on the challenge of directing the Teatro Español in Madrid. As a theater director, he has directed more than 50 productions. As an actor, he has taken on legendary pieces such as Don Juan by José Zorrilla, Sophocles’ Electra, and Heiner Müller’s interpretation of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex. He has also appeared on the big screen, in films such as Amic/Amat by Ventura Pons or El coronel Macià by Josep Maria Forn and on television, in series such as TV3’s Nit i Dia. He has also voiced actors such as Mel Gibson and Ben Kingsley. Throughout his life, he has received several awards, the Premi Nacional de Teatre, the Premi Ciutat de Barcelona, the Premi Butaca and various Premis Max awards.
This month, we review his theatrical beginnings as a member of the GOGO company, an initiative forged within the framework of the IEN, and also retrace the cultural role that the institute played in the Barcelona of the decades of 1960 and 1970.
Do you remember the first time you entered the IEN?
Yes. It was 1962. At the time, I was in sixth year of high school at the Jaume Balmes Institute. One day, my father, who had always striven to open the door to new knowledge for me, approached me and said: I have signed you up to learn English at the IEN. I happened to get a fantastic teacher: Edward K. Flagler. I loved it. That first contact with the IEN, however, was short-lived: after a year, two of my friends changed schools and I followed them.
But you quickly rediscovered a link to the IEN…
Exactly. In 1964 I returned. That year I had started Law School and I decided to combine my studies with a new course at the IEN. At the time, it was a modern school, with an impressive building surrounded by Via Augusta and its central boulevard that filled the neighborhood with life. I loved it. One day, going down the stairs in the Institut, a sign caught my attention with a message: “We are looking for actors to perform the play The Marriage of Mr. Mississippi. There were also some directions: “If you’re interested, come to the theater and ask for Santiago Sans.” I had already done theater with the university group of the Law School and we had performed exactly the same play. I was very curious to know how they would approach it at the IEN.
What did you find when you opened the door?
First of all, a fantastic theater. In the middle of the room, a short, wiry boy. He was very young. His name was Santiago Sans. I explained to him that I was coming to ask for information about participating in the play. He told me they were still missing an actor and I accepted the role. This is how I became part of the company GOGO Teatro Experimental Independiente. The next day, walking on campus, I crossed paths with Santi again. Turns out he was also studying law. It was the beginning of a close friendship.
How would you define the company GOGO Teatro Experimental Independiente?
It was a theater group made up of people who loved theater. We spent hours discussing which plays we would perform, rehearsing them, thinking and rethinking the set and costumes that would encapsulate them… Basically, we worked on American or Anglo-Saxon scripts, but also by Spanish and European authors. Additionally, every two years we organized an American theater series in English and Spanish.
How did GOGO fit into the IEN?
The initiative had come from the IEN Student Committee, led by Santi Sans and Carles Canut, who also studied at the Institute. They convinced Edward K. Flagler – who had become head of studies at the IEN – to have each new student who enrolled in the institute contribute 5 pesetas to the maintenance of the theater. Since we had the theater space at our disposal every day of the year, we could easily rehearse the plays there and we learned a lot. With these facilities, the GOGO company became, without a doubt, an important voice in the independent theater scene in Barcelona.
In fact, big names in acting have come out of it.
Of course. There were about thirty members. Some have dedicated themselves to the world of theater and have had brilliant careers. I could name many: Santi Sans, Carles Canut, Emma Cohen, Carles Velat, Paco Albor, Camilo García Casar… The last one, for example, is one of the best Spanish dubbing actors and voice actors of all time.
What did it mean for the IEN to have such an initiative?
From the start, we fostered the relationship between North American and Spanish culture through our plays. Apart from that, the theater was a cohesive space. The building had a lot of floors full of classrooms and every day there were a lot of people passing through the corridors. The IEN, however, was not a place where you just went to learn English: it was a socializing space, where you could make friends, share ideas and have a great time. All of that, in a very specific context: that of late Francoism.
How did the political context of the time condition you?
Barcelona’s independent theater groups like GOGO were united by some common inputs. To begin with, the desire and restlessness to make theater, but also an anti-Franco spirit and a desire to turn our companies into a cultural melting pot. We staged texts such as Rafael Alberti’s El Adefesio, which was still banned in Spain. In this case, for example, we were denied permission to perform it. I traveled to Madrid and got them to give us permission to do at least six performances. When, in 1967, Santi Sans had to leave for military service, I took over the direction of the plays. I wanted to do a series of plays like Chips with Everything by Arnold Wesker or that followed the format of Living Newspaper, representing current events on stage. They were all by authors who were too left-wing for those times and the IEN didn’t like that, despite the fact that they had always given us a free hand. So I ended up leaving the IEN.
The end of an age. What are the best moments you experienced there?
There were many of them. First of all, I would emphasize the passion with which we did all this. We were an independent company, but we were very close to becoming professional. We always filled the IEN theater and had toured Catalonia and the south of France. I would have liked to take that next step and I discussed it with the Institute, but they told me that it was not part of their mission. All of us who were part of GOGO felt very involved. I started lifelong friendships there. It was more than theater: it was debauchery, parties, early mornings, drunken nights… It was a very important life experience. As it was for our audiences as well. In 1984, while directing an opera at the Teatro Maria Guerrero in Madrid, Minister Ernest Lluch came to greet us in the dressing room. He told us the show had: “transported me back to the plays you put on at the IEN”. Turns out he hadn’t missed a single one.
What has GOGO and the IEN meant to your artistic career?
It was a place that shook up the university scene, in general. We all longed for culture. The GOGO years at the IEN helped to shape my personality and the view I have of the world today.
