Jesús Vidal, winner of the 2019 Goya for best new actor for his performance in the film "Campeones", has given a session to the students of the Degree in Literature and Creative Writing (LEC), at the framework of the subject "Taller de Artes Escénicas". Under the degree scroll "The theatre: the stage of my life", at the meeting, which was also attended by students from other Degrees and Schools, the actor shared his professional career in the world of the performing arts and addressed some technical issues related to the theatre, a field in which he currently works professionally.

Jesús Vidal during the session. PHOTO: Manuel Castells

Passionate about cinema, literature and theatre since he was a child, as he explained, it was these hobbies that led him to graduate in Philology Hispánica and study a diploma in Journalism. "My vocation intensified when I was finishing the degree program and we had to do a final project on theatre. I chose the playwright Sarah Kane who, along with Harold Pinter, was a great influence on me," she said. It was then that she decided that at some point in her life she would do a professional project related to this field. The occasion arose when he ran out of work and was able to write "conference room de espera", a play that aimed to give a voice "to all those people who spend their lives waiting for something to happen: in the unemployment queue, at conference room in the ICU, the arrival of a change in the law, or a fairer world", and which he premiered at the Albéitar theatre in León. In this sense, he reminded the students that "every crisis generates an opportunity" and that " training is very important". He also assured them that the arts is "an adventure that involves renunciations, leaving something behind; in my case, forgetting the prospect of getting a stable employment , but it was my vocation and I decided to put everything on the line": "If you choose the path of art, you will have days of wine and roses, days when you will cry, but you will also have a great reward". 

His came with the play "Cáscaras vacías", which playwrights Laila Ripoll and Magdalena Labarga wrote for the Centro Dramático Nacional. As the actor explained, this was what the Nazis called the 275,000 people with some form of disability subject who were subjected to their euthanasia programme. Vidal, who is 100% visually impaired in his right eye and 90% visually impaired in his left eye, played Hans Klischman, a character with schizophrenia. "This character, one of the six main characters in the play who, in their last moments, share their fears, their hopes and the meaning of their lives in the gas chamber, allowed me to grow a lot," he said. During the session, the actor also introduced the audience to concepts such as verismo and the fourth wall, which are present in some of the plays he has performed.

Dedication by Jesús Vidal. PHOTO: Cristhian Mestre

In his visit, Jesús Vidal has dedicated a copy of his book "S4la de espera" to the University, which will be available to employees and students at Library Services: "To the University of Navarra and its School of Philosophy y Letras, with all my affection. Thank you for your work professor in favour of the arts and theatre".

contact . attendance to shows and masterclasses given by different specialists is the goal of the subject "Performing Arts Workshop". Compulsory for students of the Degree in Literature and Creative Writing (LEC), it is also offered as elective subject in the Degrees in History, Humanities y Philology.