El Telón de Carmen
(Carmen's Curtain Call)
A Carmen Delgado siempre le habían dicho que el teatro era una profesión sin futuro.
Carmen Delgado had always been told that theatre was a profession with no future.
Su madre, que había trabajado treinta años como administrativa en el ayuntamiento de Salamanca, le repetia cada vez que podía que lo sensato habría sido estudiar algo práctico.
Her mother, who had worked for thirty years as an administrator at the Salamanca town hall, would repeat to her whenever she could that the sensible thing would have been to study something practical.
Pero Carmen, que desde niña había sentido que las palabras cobraban vida solo cuando eran pronunciadas en un escenario, nunca había prestado atención a aquellos consejos.
But Carmen, who since childhood had felt that words only came alive when they were spoken on a stage, had never paid attention to that advice.
Ahora, a los sesenta y dos años, mientras se miraba en el espejo del camerino por lo que sería la ultima vez, pensaba que tal vez su madre hubiera tenido razón en algo: el tiempo, efectivamente, no perdonaba.
Now, at sixty-two years old, as she looked at herself in the dressing room mirror for what would be the last time, she thought that perhaps her mother had been right about one thing: time, indeed, did not forgive.
El Teatro Liceo, con sus butacas de terciopelo rojo y su olor a madera antigua, había sido su hogar durante casi cuarenta años.
The Teatro Liceo, with its red velvet seats and its smell of old wood, had been her home for nearly forty years.
Había debutado allí con veinticuatro años, en un papel secundario que nadie recordaba, y desde entonces había interpretado a reinas, a criadas, a madres desesperadas y a mujeres que se reian de la muerte.
She had made her debut there at twenty-four, in a supporting role that nobody remembered, and since then she had played queens, maids, desperate mothers and women who laughed at death.
La dirección del teatro le había comunicado, con la frialdad que caracteriza a las decisiones administrativas, que su contrato no sería renovado. <<Queremos dar pasó a voces más jovenes>>, le habían explicado, como si la juventud fuera un merito y no simplemente una circunstancia.
The theatre management had informed her, with the coldness that characterises administrative decisions, that her contract would not be renewed. <<We want to make way for younger voices,>> they had explained to her, as if youth were a merit and not simply a circumstance.
Alguien llamó a la puerta del camerino.
Someone knocked on the dressing room door.
Era Lucia, la actriz más joven de la compañía, que había sido contratada aquel mismo año.
It was Lucia, the youngest actress in the company, who had been hired that very year.
Llevaba un ramo de flores que parecía demasiado grande para sus brazos. <<He pensado que le gustaría tener estas flores antes de salir al escenario>>, dijo con una timidez que a Carmen le resultó conmovedora. <<Mi abuela siempre contaba que usted fue la razón por la que ella empezó a ir al teatro.>>
She was carrying a bouquet of flowers that seemed too large for her arms. <<I thought you might like to have these flowers before going on stage,>> she said with a shyness that Carmen found touching. <<My grandmother always used to say that you were the reason she started going to the theatre.>>
Carmen cogio las flores y las coloco sobre la mesa del camerino, junto a los botes de maquillaje y las fotografias amarillentas que había ido acumulando a lo largo de los años.
Carmen took the flowers and placed them on the dressing room table, next to the makeup jars and the yellowed photographs she had accumulated over the years.
Había una de su primer estreno, otra con el elenco de Bodas de Sangre, y una tercera en la que aparecia saludando al público con los ojos cerrados, como si quisiera guardar aquel momento con otro sentido que no fuera la vista.
There was one from her first premiere, another with the cast of Blood Wedding, and a third in which she appeared taking a bow with her eyes closed, as if she wanted to preserve that moment with a sense other than sight.
Sonaron los tres avisos.
The three calls sounded.
Carmen se levantó, se aliso el vestido y respiro hondo.
Carmen stood up, smoothed her dress and took a deep breath.
Antes de salir, se miró una ultima vez en el espejo y se dijo en voz baja: <<No te despidas del público, Carmen.
Before going out, she looked at herself one last time in the mirror and said to herself quietly: <<Do not say goodbye to the audience, Carmen.
Despidete del escenario.
Say goodbye to the stage.
El público cambia cada noche, pero el escenario siempre ha sido el mismo.>> Después, abrió la puerta y caminó hacia la luz.
The audience changes every night, but the stage has always been the same.>> Then, she opened the door and walked towards the light.
Aquella noche, Carmen interpreto a una mujer que recordaba su vida entera mientras esperaba un tren que nunca llegaba.
That night, Carmen played a woman who remembered her entire life while waiting for a train that never arrived.
Cuando pronuncio la ultima frase de la obra, se hizo un silencio tan profundo que Carmen pudo escuchar su propia respiracion.
When she spoke the last line of the play, a silence fell so deep that Carmen could hear her own breathing.
Entonces, el público se puso de pie.
Then, the audience rose to their feet.
No aplaudieron inmediatamente.
They did not applaud immediately.
Primero se levantaron, como si el cuerpo les pidiera rendir homenaje antes de que las manos lo hicieran.
First they stood up, as if their bodies were asking them to pay tribute before their hands did so.
Fue en aquel silencio de pie, antes de la ovacion, donde Carmen entendio que su madre se había equivocado: el teatro no era una profesión.
It was in that standing silence, before the ovation, where Carmen understood that her mother had been wrong: theatre was not a profession.
Era un lugar donde el tiempo se detenia, y eso, precisamente eso, era lo único que el tiempo no podía destruir.
It was a place where time stood still, and that, precisely that, was the only thing that time could not destroy.
Key Vocabulary
el camerino dressing room
el escenario stage
el elenco cast (of a play)
debutar to make one's debut
interpretar to play, to perform (a role)
la ovacion ovation, standing ovation
rendir homenaje to pay tribute
el estreno premiere, opening night
despedirse to say goodbye
la butaca theatre seat, armchair