Carmen de la Maza, great lady of the theater

A great lady of the theater left. She passed away yesterday, Friday, January 14, at the age of 81, as a result of a long illness, accompanied by her children Agustín, Regina and Pablo. A woman leaves the scene who embodied that Mariana Pineda Lorquiana of the early eighties who toured stages in the United States, Germany and Holland, the actress who embodied Paco Rabal’s wife in the television series Reedbed, the film and television accomplice of Jaime de Armiñán, a director with whom he always had a special connection.

Carmen de la Maza, who was always very proud of having worked together with Adolfo Marsillach in the representation of The Tartuffe, by Molière, grew up in a family that breathed art. This did not prevent him from having to hide from his father, the illustrious guitarist Regino Sáinz de la Maza, soloist, composer, researcher and devotee of the Spanish guitar, his participation in the rehearsals of Exercise for five fingers, by Peter Shaffer, one of the first productions in which he participated.

His grandmother was Concha Espina (Santander, 1869-Madrid, 1955), a writer, poet and playwright, author of the maragatha sphinx and of The metal of the dead, Novelist who was proposed nine times for the Nobel Prize for Literature and who was a candidate three times (1926, 1929 and 1931).

Born in San Sebastián on August 23, 1940, but settled in Madrid from her earliest childhood, Carmen de la Maza achieved popularity after her participation in those mythical theatrical performances for television in Study 1 Y Novel of Spain in black and white in the sixties and seventies. It was precisely in the dramatic space Novel, from RTVE, where the notable conjunction of a large part of the family talents took place: in The Jayon, a work signed by the grandmother, Concha Espina, and adapted and directed by her husband, the film director Agustín Navarro (1926-2001), lived the illusion of sharing the poster with her young son, then a young boy, the now musician Pablo Navarro . The music of the montage was signed by Regino Sáinz de la Maza, his father. Everything stayed in the family.

Carmen de la Maza participated in films such as beyond the garden, from Peter Olea, The birds of Baden-Baden, by Mario Camus, or airbag, by Juanma Bajo Ulloa. Also in TV series like Central Hospital or the commissioner. But she was always, above all, a dramatic actress, dedicated to the great theater.

At the beginning of her career, she felt somewhat trapped in those roles of pretty girl or fine young lady in which they tried to pigeonhole her. For this reason, at the end of the 1970s, he set out to found his own theater company, Retablo, with which he sailed against the tide alongside director José Díaz. That was when she began to show off her power as a dramatic actress, in productions by Max Aub, Arnold Wesker or Lope de Vega.

The result of this fruitful stage is his Mariana Pineda, by Federico García Lorca, perhaps the most emblematic role of his entire career. I was in love with the strength of that character, the 26-year-old from Granada condemned to death for defending the liberal cause, for having a flag embroidered by women from the Albaicín neighborhood with the words Liberty, Equality and Law in that Spain of the 19th century.

Carmen de la Maza was a sensitive actress who liked difficult roles, the challenge of facing the great classics, such as The Lear King, by William Shakespeare. He liked to get to the dressing room very early, and put it right away to his liking, with candles, photos of his children, photos of himself, from previous montages. Her son Agustín Navarro describes her as a “very upright and affectionate” woman who tended to shun the spotlight, fame and premiere parties. She did not like to step on carpets, she preferred to step on stage.