A genre of its own and the destiny of being “a living political manifesto”. In two words Eva Robin’s. Actress, singer, TV personality, born in 1958. Eva was one of the first transgender characters to occupy and upset, but always with irony and elegance, the world of Italian entertainment. We intercept her traveling between Pisa, where she lives, and Milan where this weekend, at the Teatro San Babila, she is on stage with Moliere’s L’Avaro directed by Andrea Buscemi who is also the protagonist, Arpagone.
Back to the theater in the aftermath of a bad pre-election day… (she was a candidate on a list, Centro, headed by Buscemi who aimed to become mayor of Pisa).
“I think everything fell apart yesterday. I lasted 24 hours (laughs). I had made this choice out of affection but when I realized it was becoming a coincidence, I left. I don’t understand politics, with the dynamics of information that deals with it. I have no faith in politics.”
Allow us one more joke. Between Renzi and Calenda arguing in Rome and his mayoral candidate retiring in Pisa, yesterday was a vituperation for the centrists…
«What to tell you… I understood that politicians are like diapers, they need to be changed often because they get dirty». (smiles)
The theater is better, where she returns more and more convinced with immortal works such as L’Avaro.
«It was Buscemi himself who initiated me into classical theater with La Locandiera, then we did L’Avaro, Il Mercante di Venezia and other things, such as Pinocchio where I played the fairy and the talking cricket at the same time. Returning to L’Avaro: we have been bringing him to the stage for over ten years. I play the role (Frosina ed) that was Laura Antonelli in the cinema. At the beginning I was much more graceful, now I’m coarser as Moliere perhaps would like and as Andrea also wants me. Today I’m a bit of a commoner.”
By bringing an opera on stage for many years, does the character change together with the present context and the actor’s changes?
«It changes with the maturity of those who interpret it, with practice, with the ability to enter and exit the character. It happens often.”
The Miser suggests material riches. What is your relationship with money?
«I had a lot of it in the flourishing periods when there were, in the 80s and 90s, great popularity, TV programs, films. Then over time I had to be more thrifty because it slipped off which was a pleasure. Having less, however, has taught me much more than having a lot. I deal more with existence, even though I am not a thrifter…».
In your life, have you met lovers who were particularly greedy for money or stingy?
«I haven’t had relationships with men for a few years. Neither generous nor with a short hand. I’m one who takes pleasure in her quickly and then I try to unleash them right away, I learned that a bit from them too… I don’t even get offered a pizza. For the rest, I am now part of a gynoecium of friends. Men are just bolts of lightning that pass quickly. Also because my doctor told me that I have to have intercourse every ten days!». (laughs)
Every ten days, he also finds them fast…
“Very fast! I can’t even remember them!”
At the time of Rubygate and the Olgettines, you defended Silvio Berlusconi about a non-miser. Did he ever meet the former prime minister?
«Unfortunately I’ve never met Berlusca, except once from afar when he came to the company to greet us who worked on Antonio Ricci’s programs. Well, what else to say about those girls: they were ungrateful».
Would you like to go back to TV, perhaps with Ricci, your discoverer?
«Today, with political correctness, that kind of avant-garde television that we did in programs like Lone Wolf and The Phoenix Arab in the 80s is no longer possible. Since I’ve never taken sides, I have to be even more cautious because I don’t have my back protected by anyone but myself. In any case, TV is no longer my medium, I prefer the distance of the theater ».
What if they called her for a reality show?
«Actually I had to do the 2nd edition of L’Isola dei Famosi on Rai but the network director at the time didn’t like the idea of seeing me in costume. I already had the contract in hand, when I read on Dago that this director didn’t suit me. Then Luxuria went and won».
Speaking of “correct”, in the jumble of definitions of the LGBT community, how do you define yourself: transsexual, transgender, trans woman?
“Oh mama! Nothing is understood anymore. I’m one of the genres that decides not to cross the border. I already see myself as finished and refined as I am, without having to take further steps, let’s put it this way».
She has said in the past that she has been in love with a woman for many years. Is this still true?
“It is still so. Luckily I didn’t marry her to protect her. There weren’t civil unions then.”
Technically, pass me the term, it would have been a heterosexual marriage…
“But they would have called him an adulterer! It would still have been a journalistic coup because one of the spouses was Robin’s. That’s why I didn’t marry her, to protect her and her family’s good name. But we became even more friends, even more solid. Ours is not the canonical sentimental relationship. We love so much. I often sleep with her who has a beautiful estate. I move from the center, she lives on the first hill. With animals, dogs and cats, as if they were our children. We have recreated an Almodovarian family. And we’re fine with that. Then every now and then I keep my vice, the quickies we were talking about before ».
Where will the future take her, Eva?
“Still at the theatre. I will star in The Merry Wives of Windsor produced by the Teatro Stabile di Padova which will debut at the Roman Theater in Verona in July. Another tour is underway with a very interesting text by Jo Clifford, a transsexual director who we also took to the off theater in New York. An international production where American actors collaborate».
