Everything One Can Say: A Conversation with Peppa Briones
‘Peppa’ Camila Briones started writing stories at just nine years old. Born and raised in Lima, Peru, she wrote and directed her first play, Encajados, in 2016 after winning a high school contest—an experience that gave her “creative” confidence.
Now, as a Scenic Writing student at the Universität der Künste (UdK) in Berlin, she finds herself questioning the privilege of being an artist, why she writes, and how much someone is willing to sacrifice for the stories they want to tell. “Often, we fit in without questioning what we see or recognizing our responsibility based on what we represent. How much space should we take up, and how much should we give up?”Briones reflects.
What has inspired you?
Latin American Boom literature made me realize there are endless ways to play with words. Play itself is essential in theatre. The target audience defines what truths you are trying to tell, and what conversations you are trying to open. Theatre has this beautiful moment in which, nobody speaks while the play is on stage, then you have internal conversations with yourself, and if you remember something, the answers are internal. It insulates you from the fear of what other people are going to think. Hearing my friends get excited and create has been inspiring too. Listening to people, everyone has a present narrative voice when telling stories; everyone is a character and it makes everything close and interconnected.
Interconnection. Have other mediums influenced your career?
I’ve done production and teaching roles. I like music and visual arts. Production allows you to recognize when you need to be agile or concise and to consider the audience as an important part of the writing. Multidisciplinarity is one of the things I hope will become more common. Because of it, I can recognize a story’s rhythm and whether it serves the narrative. You have to think beyond personal desire—there is always a listener, not just in terms of money, but in how an audience engages, understands, doubts, and responds. When you keep exploring you realize that creativity is 'doing what you can with what you have'. More tools, more fun!
Talking about rhythm, you released some rad music.
Yes! My EP “El Cansancio del Loco” is the sound of El Loco (The Madman), a character that came out of my notes and eventually became drawings. I found that madness has a certain beauty within its extravagance, disorder and the way it finds its answer. One of my main themes is “Everything that one cannot say, what one cannot name,” and truly, that theme takes you towards madness, seeking to name something and not being able to. It is always interrelated, and it is beautiful.
Lima’s artistic scene is amazing, but there is unfair pay. Thoughts?
The lack of work and how one feels the need to accept shitty jobs that pay nothing just to get higher is rubbish and disrespectful. The workday is not very regulated, and there is a lot of exploitation. There are incredible artists, lots of creativity and a desire for more, but it is a shame that it is not profitable and has no state support. The bubbles with people from the
same circle rotating are sad too, only a few make the effort to get out of them. Not everything that could be seen is seen. Also, it saddens me that people want to be artists rather than worry about what they are going to give. It’s very easy to fall into egocentric art when it can be used as a political voice and element of conversation.
Dense, favorite Peruvian moment though?
The TV commercial with the iconic phrase “LO TUMBO?” and the Sapolio rap. (laughs)
What’s next for you?
I wanna work with instruments and something with art education. In theatre, lots of stories are coming up. I don’t wanna spoil it. It’s my worst answer, but what’s next? A lot.