He fell into theatre without ever having seen a play, swapping a Psychology degree for the boards. As the straight man in the hit comedy En otra clave, he’s found a home and a family, though he readily admits he’s keen to spread his wings.
‘MY BODY’S CALLING FOR DRAMA’
Rosales recalls, ‘At fifteen I’d never been to the theatre, but Pulp Fiction blew my mind. A friend and I made a short film called ¿Ké etcho?. Despite being very DIY, we won the Tenerife prize.’ ‘When I finished school,’ he adds, ‘I enrolled at the Tenerife Municipal Theatre School. I started going to classes, and discovered I wasn’t half bad.’
‘Later,’ he adds, ‘I dropped out of Psychology in my second year to dedicate myself to the stage. I made another short film, and that led to my first professional theatre production. Then more opportunities came along, like Un culo anda suelto with Delirium Teatro, which kept me touring for six months between Madrid and Barcelona, and even Argentina.’
In 2011, he was called in to audition for En clave de ja. ‘I’ll never forget my first programme with them. They gave me just two and a half days to learn the script. It’s recorded live in front of an audience. So, I walked on stage, no fourth wall to hide behind, and stood there, with a terrible ringing in my ears, delivering my lines like a robot, nerves on overdrive. But I’ve been part of the cast since 2013.’
He describes En otra clave (current name) as ‘a family, a happy marriage’. Rosales highlights ‘two key moments in the show’s history: when Chona, played by Lili Quintana, became a social phenomenon; and when the show was discovered in Latin America during the pandemic.’
‘From Psychology,’ he explains, ‘I learned that we share a curiosity for studying and unpacking characters. I’m told I have a comic instinct. Yet my main character, Armando, is the straight man, there to offset the surrounding chaos. He’s the whiteface clown, the one who gets the pie in the face. I love him and see myself in him, but I also enjoy leaning into the absurd.’
‘I’ve experimented with stepping outside my comfort zone,’ he notes, ‘I’ve done stand-up occasionally, and it even came naturally, but that’s not where I see myself; carrying the scene on your own is really hard. Still, never say never. I also had a very rewarding experience doing voiceovers at Isla Calavera. We had to dub around twenty minutes live, with no preparation. I worked alongside Luis Posada, Johnny Depp’s voice, and Camilo García, who dubs Anthony Hopkins. Posada gave me his contact details, and I’m considering spending a summer at his dubbing academy.’
‘I’m working on something for film,’ he confesses, ‘but with a tragic slant. Drama is what my body’s calling for right now. It’s an exercise in restraint and emotionally intense work, but for me it represents a challenge and a chance to grow.’
