Tijuana

A fake moustache, a change of identity. For six months, the actor Gabino Rodríguez was Santiago Ramirez, a man working in a factory for a pittance, seeking a certain truth. He moved to Tijuana on the U.S. border, where the huge northern neighbour, encouraged by the Mexican government, subcontracts industrial production at ridiculously low wages. Like an investigative journalist, he tries to live on less than five dollars a day. Like millions of Mexicans.

The result of this investigation of a world of exploitation is Tijuana, a work that exposes the ethical dilemmas of the documentary approach. It is a moving and distressing tale. Alone onstage the actor performs a tour de force, plunging body and soul into a character whose story rings bitterly true. Films, recordings, texts: Rodriguez candidly portrays the incredible violence of a society that has lost faith in its government and decides to take the law into its own hands. With a poetic touch, he also bears witness and depicts acts of friendship, solidarity, mutual aid. Acts of humanity.

Produced by Lagartijas tiradas al sol
Created and performed by Gabino Rodríguez
Based on texts and ideas by Martin Caparrós + Andrés Solano + Arnoldo Galvez Suárez + Günter Walraff
Directed by Gabino Rodríguez + Luisa Pardo
Lighting Design Sergio López Vigueras
Set Design Pedro Pizarro
Sound Design Juan Leduc
VideoCarlos Gamboa + Chantal Peñalosa
Artistic Collaborator Francisco Barreiro

Presented in association with Espace libre + Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal

Written by Diane Jean
Translated by Neil Kroetsch

Premiered at Festival Escenas do Cambio, Santiago (Spain), on February 28, 2016