|
WINDY CITY TIMES
|
|
|
DEATH AND THE MAIDEN
Written by: Ariel Dorfman
by Rick Reed 2001-04-25
|
|
This article shared 1919 times since Wed Apr 25, 2001
|
|
Credit playwright Ariel Dorfman for creating a play that wastes no time bringing its audience into a suspense-filled world where anything can happen. His is a lean, energized vision that does justice to his tale about atrocities performed under a totalitarian government.
The play has three characters: Paulina ( Susan Block ) , a woman crippled by her kidnapping and torture 15 years ago when she was a student and believed to have knowledge about her then underground newspaper editor boyfriend, Gerardo Escobar ( David Tatosian ) , who is now her husband and on the brink of being appointed to a human rights commission charged with investigating abuses by the previous regime, and Roberto ( Danne W. Taylor ) a physician who comes into their lives and who may or may not know more about Paulina's past then one would first assume. The doctor, Roberto, has played the role of Good Samaritan and has helped Gerardo get home after he has a flat tire. Once in the Escobar's home, Paulina recognizes the voice of the doctor as one of her chief torturers, and that voice, along with the doctor's predilection for Shubert, convinces her he was the man responsible for the repeated rape and abuse she suffered so many years ago. Paulina pistol whips the doctor, ties him to a chair and stages a mock "trial" where the outraged doctor must confess his crimes to spare his life. Most of the play deals with this tense situation and sets us up to wonder if the doctor was the man Paulina thinks he is, as well as considering larger questions about vengeance and justice.
Unfortunately, with Red Wolf Theater Company's community theater level production values, and David Tatosian's uninspired direction, most of the life in Dorfman's drama is excised. The set design, attributed only to "Red Wolf," stands as a good symbol for the lack of professionalism. If you've seen the movie, you know that the action takes place in the Escobar's desolate beach house, while a storm rages outside. This physical setting isolates the characters, and the storm gives a Lear-like ambience to the proceedings. Red Wolf's set design is bare, suggesting nothing more than a black-and-white stage, let alone a beach house. Where were the touches that might have made us believe that this was a real world?
The performances follow the lack of inspiration in the scenic design. Susan Block's Paulina is shrill and one-note. Because she doesn't modulate her performance with anything resembling a real human being, it's difficult for the audience to question whether she's right in her assumptions about the doctor. She just seems like a crazy lady. David Tatosian, directing himself as her husband, fails to create a character who has any empathy, let alone sympathy, for the wife who suffered horrific abuse to save his ass. Tatosian seems annoyed with his wife, instead of outraged. He stumbles over his lines and is curiously unanimated when he makes the play's final speech, a speech which should have provided a denouement, but leaves the audience feeling flat and unsatisfied. As the physician who may or may not have tortured Paulina in her youth, Danne Taylor is, at best, adequate, offering us no ambiguity, which is essential to making the play work: we must wonder if this man was capable of the crimes of which he's being accused.
|
|
|
|
This article shared 1919 times since Wed Apr 25, 2001
|
ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE |
---|
|
| | Kokandy Productions now accepting submissions for Chicago Musical Theater Fest returning Aug. 8-11 2024-04-18 --From a press release - CHICAGO (April 18, 2024) — Kokandy Productions is pleased to open submissions for the 2024 Chicago Musical Theatre Festival, returning this summer following a four-year hiatus. Kokandy is thrilled to ...
|
| | THEATER Blue in the Right Way's 'Women Beware Women' offers feminist, trans take on a troubling Jacobean tragedy 2024-04-18 - "Problematic" is a great go-to adjective to describe Women Beware Women. This 1621 Jacobean tragedy is by English playwright Thomas Middleton, who is probably best remembered as a collaborator with William Shakespeare on their pessimistic tragedy ...
|
| | Hubbard Street Dance Chicago announces programs for May 17-19 season finale 2024-04-17 --From a press release - CHICAGO — Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (HSDC) announced program selections for Spring Series: Of Joy, the final installment of Season 46, Abundance. The engagement will include four unique works, once ...
|
| | LGBTQ+ film fest Queer Expression to feature Alexandra Billings in 'Queen Tut' 2024-04-12 --From a press release - CHICAGO — Pride Film Fest celebrates its second decade with a new name—QUEER EXPRESSION—and has announced its slate of LGBTQ+-themed feature, mid-length and short films for in-person and virtual events in April and May. QUEER EXPRESSI ...
|
| | Open Space Arts's COCK offers a complex but compelling take on relationships 2024-04-08 By Brian Kirst - Premiering in 2009, Mike Bartlett's COCK was a comic revelation, exploring notions about fluidity and sexual labelling long before they became commonplace discussions. Granted, conversations about these issues will always ...
|
| | Jeff Awards launches submission period for Impact Awards 2024-04-06 - The Jeff Awards announced the opening period for applications submissions for its 2024 honors to help inspire early career artists of color in the Greater Chicagoland area. Two recipients will be selected for awards of $10,000 ...
|
| | SHOWBIZ Outfest, Chita Rivera, figure skaters, letter, playwright dies 2024-04-05 - For more than four decades, Outfest has been telling LGBTQ+ stories through the thousands of films screened during its annual Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Film Festival—but that event may have a different look this year because ...
|
| | SHOWBIZ Dionne Warwick, OUTshine, Ariana DeBose, 'Showgirls,' 'Harlem' 2024-03-29 Video below - Iconic singer Dionne Warwick was honored for her decades-long advocacy work for people living with HIV/AIDS at a star-studded amfAR fundraising gala in Palm Beach, per the Palm Beach Daily News. Warwick received the "Award of ...
|
| | WORLD Israel court, conversion therapy, death sentences, Georgia bill, fashion items 2024-03-29 - Israel's Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the Population Authority must register female couples as mothers on the birth certificates of their children they have together, The Washington Blade reported. The decision was made following a petition ...
|
| | City Lit Executive Artistic Director Brian Pastor talks theater, comics, queerness 2024-03-26 - City Lit Theater has announced its programming for the 2024-25 seasonwhich will be the company's 44th. It will also be the first season to be programmed under the leadership of Brian Pastor (they/them), who will assume ...
|
| | The Jeff Awards announces the 50th anniversary awards for non-equity theater 2024-03-26 --From a press release - A complete list of recipients can also be found online in the Non-Equity and News and Events sections at www.jeffawards.org. (March 25, 2024 - Chicago) — Celebrating its 50th anniversary awarding recognition for Non-Equity theater, the ...
|
| | SHOWBIZ Queer musicians, Marvel situation, Elliot Page, Nicole Kidman 2024-03-21 - Queer musician Joy Oladokun released the single "I Wished on the Moon," from Jack Antonoff's official soundtrack for the new Apple TV+ series The New Look, per a press release. The soundtrack, ...
|
| | THEATER Chicago's City Lit has anxiety on tap with 'Two Hours in a Bar' 2024-03-21 - Two Hours in a Bar Waiting for Tina Meyer by Kristine Thatcher with material by Larry Shue Text Me by Kingsley Day (Book, Music and Lyrics). At: City Lit Theater, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Ave.. Tickets: ...
|
| | Jamie Barton brings nuances of identity to her Lyric Opera 'Aida' performance 2024-03-18 - Chicago's Lyric Opera is currently featuring a production of Giuseppe Verdi's Aida starring Michelle Bradley as Aida, Jamie Barton as Amneris and Russell Thomas as Radamès. The opera runs through April 7, 2024, with Francesca Zambello ...
|
| | Queer Eye's Jai Rodriguez is set to slay at The Big Gay Cabaret 2024-03-05 - Out and proud performer Jai Rodriguez is set to play at The Big Gay Cabaret this March for three days. Presented by RuPaul Drag Racer Ginger Minj, this monthly series highlights the wide world of cabaret ...
| |
|
|
|
|