Soledad Mallol
“Older women do not exist in the scripts and if they appear they always get lost or have Alzheimer’s,” says half of the Virtues
Many remember her for ‘Marriage Scenes’ or continue to identify her as a member of the Virtues, a legendary comedy duo with whom she plans to reappear in the fall. But what currently absorbs Soledad Mallol’s acting talent is ‘Blablacoche’, the play that is being performed this July at Madrid’s Quique San Francisco theatre. At 57, she plays Magina, a simple and talkative supermarket cashier, separated from her, who travels from Madrid to Cádiz in a shared car to meet her first grandson…
“On the way, what usually happens when you meet strangers happens to us, that you start to tell things that maybe you wouldn’t tell people close to you.” She knows from experience. And not because she has ever used the ‘Blablacar’ service (“that’s what my son does”), but because as a young girl she hitchhiked with her friends and, as she recalls, “people told you about their life and we told them the our”. Nothing serious ever happened to her, but she did face some unpleasant situation. «Once we were brought by a trucker who tried to get his hands on a friend and me. Luckily it was when we were already in Madrid. We stopped for a moment and we both zoomed out of there.
Unlike Magina, Soledad does not have grandchildren. “Although I could, because I have a 32-year-old son. But those of my generation are going to be grandparents very late. It is what touches and it is necessary to adapt”. She confesses that being a grandmother is her greatest dream, in that she understands Magina. And, like her, her trips have also changed her life. “You meet people and learn not to be racist.” Perhaps the one that marked her the most was one that she made when she was very young in Turkey: five friends in a ‘2 Horses’… «Incredible things happened to us. She was crazy. I think that if my son does that to me, I won’t forgive him, heh, heh…».
The actress, who is currently performing the play ‘Blablacoche’, announces that she will return with the Virtues in the fall
Born in 1965 in Carabanchel, and the youngest of three siblings, Soledad Mallol is remembered as a “wayward, not to say unbearable” girl. But she justifies it. “My brother was mom’s favorite, my sister was dad’s spoiled, and I had to make a hole for myself.” So he took to the artisteo: he sang, danced and did everything to attract attention… That’s why when years later he went on stage to perform ‘So five years pass’ by Lorca, directed by Miguel Narros, felt in glory. I’ve finally found what I really want, she told herself. Juan Diego, her classmate at her TEC, called her ‘Jozelito’, because of how well she imitated Sole the little nightingale. «Every time he saw me, he asked me for one of Joselito and for me it was an honor».
The secret of staying together
Today she continues to be just as in love with her profession. “Actors never retire. This is very addictive, although many times the new generations throw you out. After a certain age, the TVs rarely call you, with everything we older people have to say. The actress herself considers that abroad they are more appreciated. “Here they are looking at whether you are fatter or older. Older women don’t exist in scripts normally. And if they appear they always have Alzheimer’s or they get lost, when there are many older people who are great.
In October he will return with a new show by Las Virtudes, the duo he formed in 1986 with Elena Martín and which has been “the best thing we’ve done in life, because we didn’t have to wait for the director of our dreams to call us” . Shortly before, she Mallol had appeared at a casting as a stewardess of the ‘Un, dos, tres’ and they did not select her. “I think they did me a favor.” Years later Chicho Ibáñez Serrador, the creator of the famous contest, wanted to sign the Virtues. And this time they were the ones who gave him pumpkins… «It wasn’t for revenge. We admired him very much. It was because he told us that they had to give us the scripts and we have always refused that». Las Virtudes were the first comedians to act on television while pregnant. «We danced with a tremendous hype. People thought it was for fun. But one grace is called Dani and the other Guille, my son».
For better and for worse, Sole and Elena have always been like sisters. They were mothers and the two divorced almost at the same time. «When we started they told us what a pity that we were women because it would not take more than a year to separate. The reality is that all the male duos in our environment were dissolved and we are still there. The secret? “That we have never liked the same boy.”
#Actors #retire #acting #addictive