Suspended in the midst of its inconvenient transmission during the pandemic, due to the plot it developed, when talking to the dead It was picked up by Cuban television and confirmed that despite the initial failure, it was conceived as a proposal with enough rigor to be given a second chance on the small screen.
The program, as the wretch did before Starting motoris occupying the space of Live the story until the latter returns to the screen. In other words, it is covering “the gap” left by one of the most popular spaces on television in recent decades; hence comparisons have been inevitable.
But the invoice of both spaces is totally different and perhaps even the audiences to which it is directed differ in terms of aesthetic and creative interests. when talking to the dead It is defined by a very singular humor, and by a good acting work that moves between the absurd, the grotesque, and satire, to a lesser extent, and is marked by the bizarre statements that it presents: the worker of a morgue (Miguelito) Its mission on earth is to listen to the last wishes of the deceased so that they can achieve eternal rest.
The work put forward by actor Ray Cruz is based on an original representation of the main character, Miguelito, who is, as the title of the space mentions, directly at the talk to the dead. With his character, who is a couple with Indirita (Yaremis Pérez), the actor manages to convince and respond to the demands of the role on which the entire plot of the program revolves, whose direction of actors was carried out by Carlos Gonzalvo.
Ray Cruz characterizes a young man from the countryside who works in a morgue as a thanatopractor (person in charge of caring for corpses) and goes through a series of hilarious situations that are well structured and resolved by the script, by Amilcar Salatti.
Throughout this sitcom, directed by Alberto Luberta, other actors take part who successfully adapt to the peculiarities of each chapter that, without failing to respond to the main springs of the original plot, weave other stories that provide new doses comedy to the original core of the show.
The soundtrack also works as an excellent support for the humorous dramaturgy and the “paranormal” entanglements that surround the relationship between Miguelito and Indirita and the head of the thanatopractors, played by Yailín Coppola.
Although the torture that was the presence in the Starting motor by singer-songwriter Ray Fernández and his group, on this occasion his music organically adds to the space and makes it have a contributing meaning to the staging, which considerably denotes Luberta’s intelligence when establishing a dialogue with Ray, who , after years “none” by the media in Cuba, has become a constant presence in different star programs.
The communion established between Jorge Enrique Caballero and the rest of the leading characters is another of the benefits of when talking to the dead. His character is established with its own features in the script and the plot and increases the approach of the stories, as well as their television representation. It is not the first time in recent decades that television broadcasts a humorous based on stories bordering on the comedy of the absurd or on characters sustained on the exaggeration of the traits that define them. Remember places like Bohemian flavorwith an extraordinary performance by Rigoberto Ferrera, who denoted a marked interest in showing other paths for humor in the Cuban media, but they did not let him stay after his first episodes.
From when talking to the dead there are many conflicting opinions ranging from acceptance to the most scathing criticism. Like any television product, the controversy will always mediate the reception of the public. But the intentions of creating a solid plot, with its own arguments, that distances itself from the most used clichés in Cuban humor, in addition to the coherent acting direction and the skill of the script, two of the fundamental achievements of space. We already know that the creative intentions when creating a program do not have greater validity in the reflection on the final result, but, in this case, when talking to the dead manages to successfully develop the idea that encouraged the creation of the program. And the product that we see on stage today is the best proof of its realization.
