"I am independent of my characters and I love it when people call me by my full name"

After filming ends, Eva Isanta reflects on her day. It was less exhausting than the previous one, with a bit more sleep regained. This time, the filming did not stretch to twelve hours, following a more regular schedule. Once out of character, Eva Isanta does not hesitate to step forward and discuss the various lives she portrays, both on television with 'La que se avecina' and on stage with 'Las que gritan'.

With the latter, she will visit Alicante this Sunday, 25th May, for a performance at the Teatro Principal, a venue she hasn't visited since before the pandemic. "Has it been renovated?" she asks about the works announced in 2018 and still pending. In just a few days, she will return to its stage to connect with an audience that will resonate in unison with this cast, which includes Soledad Mallol, Rocío Marín, and Mariona Terés.

"This play says: Sometimes we have to stop. Sometimes we have to scream. Has this happened to you?"

It has happened to me several times throughout my life, at very pivotal moments when I couldn't stop, and eventually, my body stopped me, you know? Moreover, the word "scream" is very broad in this play. It doesn't just mean to shout or speak loudly; it refers to expressing, to bringing out what we carry inside and many of us repress for various reasons. It's about daring to let it out.

"What is your way of screaming?"

Honestly, when it comes to a more alarming scream, I have quite a character, but I try not to fall into anger. My way of screaming is different because I express myself through my work. The multitude of options I have to juggle lives, ways of being, emotions, and feelings in the characters I portray is my best way of screaming.

"On stage, she does it alongside three other remarkable women."

It always sounds cliché to say we get along great, but it's true. More so in this case because it's the third cast of the play, and I've gone through many mothers and sisters. The previous ones - Rosario Pardo, Beatriz Carvajal, Norma Ruiz, and Pepa Rus - were also fantastic, but with these last ones - Soledad Mallol, Rocío Marín, and Mariona Terés - I'm in a stage of calm.

"How calm?"

I am the one who has been in the play the longest, and I am at a point where I understand my colleagues very well. There is a lot of complicity, and we work from a place of calm. When you premiere a play, there are always many factors, but now we are at a point where everything is well-tested, we know what we are telling and how we are telling it. For me, it's a moment of enjoyment.

"All of you are guided by José María del Castillo."

It's the first time I work with José, he is very special and one of the hardest-working men I've ever seen in my life. He has everything very clear and needs to convey what he wants because this play has a bit of everything. The text is by Antonio Rincón-Cano, who brought me into the project, and together they have a very special universe where they wanted to pay tribute to the women in their lives, and they have succeeded.

"What lessons come from each performance?"

Each performance, of any play, is a world. In 'Las que gritan', there is a common feeling from the audience and what we tell. All this connects us with a very sensitive part, the mother, or rather, our origin. This is very beautiful and makes us very vulnerable, and it is something that stirs us in each performance, also the spectators.

"To everyone?"

I'll tell you something that may seem very cliché, but it has caught my attention. Most men, seemingly stronger, the alpha males (laughs), who have come to see the play have left touched and told me 'Wow, I cried'. When you ask them why they say they can't explain it but that we all have a mother.

"In 'Las que gritan', humour also predominates, is it easy to make people laugh?"

It's very difficult. There's the basic humour of 'poo, bum, fart, pee' that makes us all laugh, but not everyone, for example, not me. In general, it makes almost everyone laugh and also connects us with the mischievous child facet we have. In this play, people sometimes laugh to avoid crying. Other times, the unmasked laughter comes out, like 'Wow, this happens to me', and also the laughter of embarrassment. There are many ways to laugh, and humour de-dramatises the dramatic. In 'Las que gritan', things happen that are as dramatic as life itself, and if we didn't tell it from comedy, it would be an unbearable drama because this unbearable drama is our everyday life.

"Are there limits in fiction?"

I would like to believe not. I think fiction is there to narrate reality and even to surpass it and go beyond.

"In your case, you have various projects underway."

This is a specific moment; I don't always live like this. Right now, I'm in 'La que se avecina', where we are intensely filming the sixteenth season, and on tour with 'Las que gritan'. This means being away from home and travelling. My days are quite complex, but they are exceptional cases.

"Is theatre an escape route, your way of screaming, from the screen routine?"

For me, the screen doesn't have a routine because even though it's the same character for many years, I still have a great time. Maybe what can be routine, let's say, is that for three months you're filming every day from Monday to Friday with schedules that, although they vary, are a bit more like any other job, and you can see it as a routine. On the other hand, theatre always serves as a scream, not just to break the routine, but for everything else: to tell things, denounce them, express yourself, achieve common feeling and empathy. In each performance of 'Las que gritan', the audience and we vibrate together.

"When you leave the theatre or walk down the street, how do people address you?"

It depends. Fortunately, more and more people call me by my name and surname; I've been in this profession for many years. It's also true that many times they leave the theatre, having just seen you transformed into a completely different character from the one I play on TV, and they say 'Oh, cuqui, we came to see you'. They identify me by that character, and I think 'Well, great, they came to the theatre to see the actress who plays the cuqui'. I have no problem with that, but I love it when they call me by my name and surname, as it's normal because I am independent of my characters.

"What is the greatest satisfaction your character has given you?"

From my character in 'Las que gritan', I received the surprise of the Actors Union award. It was something very special because my colleagues gave it to me, and I didn't expect it for a comedy or 'dramedy'. It's a spectacular gift, but the everyday gift is from the people who go to the theatre or tell you on the street that you brighten their lives.

"Did you ever imagine at the beginning that you would become a stage beast at this point in your career?"

How lovely, no one had ever called me a stage beast, and I love it! Being an actress was my dream, and when I did theatre in Getafe or started studying at school, my life was that. Sometimes I can't believe I can live from this and that it's going so well for me; although it's my dream come true and worked on every day.