Published on Buenos Aires Times by Anna Laffrey
From modern times to the Bard’s rhymes, writer and teacher Irene Bianchi will this week début a new humorous original work drawing on her own life experiences and societal changes.
Teatro La Comedia will welcome a daring onewoman show to its stage next weekend, when long-time writer and teacher Irene Bianchi debuts Wish Me Luck!, her original English performance for the stage.
The one-hour, one-woman show tells the story of a teacher who is fed up with her field of work and takes a risk auditioning for a role as an actress. Bianchi’s character draws on her own life experiences, branching off to comment on social issues throughout the dramatic comedy.
“Humour is a tool to talk about serious things without dramatising them,” Bianchi, 67, said. “I’d rather make the audience laugh than make them cry.”
Bianchi’s original work draws on modern English translations of works by Shakespeare and the plays of a US author named Gabriel Davis. When contacted by Bianchi regarding the rights to his work, Davis instead asked that his percentage of profits be donated to a non-profit organisation called HELPARGENTINA.
Modern themes ties together Bianchi’s own writing with Shakespeare’s archaic works. “The thread between these works is the role of women,” Bianchi explained. “I’ve been able to go to university, raise a family, and keep this passion for the stage alive. The character expresses this, too.”
Lucía Verderosa, Bianchi’s 24-year-old daughter who is working as the show’s director, said the show addresses about “how we [as women] must free ourselves in relationships and the work that we do every day.”
“The play puts across a perspective on how women were raised to fit a certain role in society,” Vederosa said. “The character talks about her failure in marriages, and how she was always kept in the kitchen or doing all of the housework.”
Much of the material will draw on Bianchi’s memories from her 40 years running an English school in La Plata.
“I loved teaching, it was a very nice profession. But at the same time, I have material to make fun of teachers,” Bianchi admits.
Bianchi has had grandparents, parents, and children, or three generations of family members, pass through as her students. Verderosa said the show is honest and upfront about the realities of the profession.
“Teachers are often not good at talking about the difficulties that the job brings,” Verderosa said. “So we’re looking to bring some empathy for teachers — it’s okay to be bothered, to go mad, to get fed up with [your] students”
The show is a full-family affair for Bianchi, with her 32-year-old daughter Paula in charge of her character’s costumes, and her 68-year-old husband Héctor Verderosa serving as executive producer.
It will run at Teatro La Comedia for six weeks. Each performance begins at 6pm and tickets can be purchased at www. plateanet.com or at the door.
WHERE AND WHEN Saturdays at 6pm, from March 23.
Teatro La Comedia,
Rodríguez Peña 1062, CABA.
info@lacomedia.com.ar