The comedian is reprising his classic show “Enselona”, which he has been on stage for 35 years, in Madrid, with only elements such as folding chairs and ladders. Whether out of superstition or simply to remove the lint from his woolly hat, Pepe Viyuela (Logroño, 61) rubs his bald head vigorously before going on stage at the Barrio Theater in Lavapiés (Madrid). There is no dissonance between the warm image he conveys in his fiction and what he shows outside that environment. When it was the Sala Triangulo. The artist has been doing the show for 35 years and will do it again at the Teatro del Barrio on December 28th. Viyuela, who plans further performances in Madrid and other cities in 2025, finds in Enselona a reflection on failure, that of a character who cannot understand the elements that accompany him, such as a folding ladder in addition to the chairs, a guitar or a jacket. And despite the fact that he, with a solid and consistent career, hardly considers himself a loser. He has had success on the stage (winning the Max Prize for “Rino Seronte” in 2016), in the cinema where he played Philemon, and on television with more than 200 episodes of “Aida” (2005-14). It didn’t occur to me, I have to do something special! At the moment, innocence is a devalued value, so it’s a nice date. Some people think that if you’re innocent, you’re stupid. The return is a bit wrong because I didn’t leave. I started Encerrona when I was in my 20s and it changed me. The years have made me less impulsive and more energized by a sense of obligation. The figures have aged in the best possible way. The personality is the same, but I like it better now. I like myself more as a person now. I have lots of wrinkles and lost a lot of hair, but I want to believe I am aging well. I read recently that “youth is a great gift, but age can be a work of art, or a work of art.”
