We sat down with Guido García Leuches ahead of his show, Playing Latinx arriving at the Soho Theatre, 10 – 13th April, for the late night slot. The show interrogates what it is to be a Latin American migrant actor in the UK, weaving together audition experience and spoken word with a high camp lecture teaching audiences how to be a perfect Latinx immigrant.
Tell us about Playing Latinx
Playing Latinx is a party show, where we celebrate the resilience of what it means to be a migrant artist in the UK, Latin American style. It’s a political rallying cry against the injustices we face in our day to day lives, through the language of silliness, Shakira and JLo.
It’s a hot combo of stand-up comedy, Latin American music, spoken word poetry, and very stupid scenes with members of the audience, where they get to ask me to do increasingly uncomfortable things as we go. Self-exploitation, baby!
If you’ve ever felt like you’ve compromised a little of yourself to try to ‘fit-in’ to someone else’s preconceived idea of you, or if you just like an hour of solid laughs, then this one’s for you.
This show explores bias within theatre and the arts – why was it important to you to shine a light on this?
Well, everyone thinks theatre is so liberal and open, and yet you go see a play in London and all you hear are the perfect RP accents, with maybe one Northern one somewhere for comic relief. And walking around London, that couldn’t be farther from what is happening out there!
We live in a gloriously multi-cultural society, and yet representation in the arts is decades behind. I rage about the political discourse around migrants in the media and parliament (because the scapegoating is truly abhorrent), but honestly the arts are to a point complicit in this discourse not changing.
There’s hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans in the UK, yet by consuming pop culture you would never know it. The little representation you find is actually pretty hurtful, so we’re putting a mirror up and whoever wants to have a chuckle with us, let’s go.
If you knew the amount of castings I go to for ‘narco’-type characters, you would die, and that’s more or less the starting point for this show.
How important is using silliness and fun to explore serious themes?
Humour is a magical thing, like a spell. If I’ve made you laugh, then you’re already on my side, and once I have you there, then maybe we can have a conversation.
It’s the only way we know how. We make theatre because we have something to say, of course, but this only works if you’re having fun while we make our point. No one wants to be preached at for any length of time. But to laugh and dance along to Despacito? Well that’s a different proposition altogether.
I was that kid in school that could get away with talking back to the teachers because everything came with a bit of cheek, and this show is no different. I doubt I’m making any friends in the industry by saying all I’m saying, but maybe if I say it smiling and dancing it’s ok?
Do you have any favourite audience interactions from the show so far?
At Fringe I did a Shakespeare scene with a gentleman who was starring as King Lear down the road, and you could tell! He had the most incredible voice. It felt incredibly on purpose.
Without spoiling too much, there’s a scene where I ask someone to teach me some dance moves, that I then copy. I’m not a professional dancer, but I’m usually ok with anything people throw at me, and making it work. Until one day this guy went on the floor and started doing the worm! Having never tried to do it before, seconds later there I was, lying on my face, writhing uncontrollably. The things we do for art.
Don’t spoil the show – but any preview tips for us on how to be a good ‘Latinx’?
Hehe we could talk hours about how the concept of the “good immigrant” is actually pretty messed up. It’s weird, in this show we have a pretty facetious seminar, teaching all the wrong lessons and warning about the pitfalls of perpetuating your own stereotype, which at the very same time becomes a celebration of all the amazing things that make us unique and interesting.
I think, ultimately, our favourite thing about Latin Americans is their ability to have a party even in the most dire of circumstances, so that’s what we’re here to do. You gonna dance some salsa with us or what?