Playwright: Nilo Cruz. At: Halcyon Theatre, 4754 N. Leavitt. Tickets: 773-413-0453; www.halcyontheatre.org; $10-$20 Runs through: Oct. 3
We defeated Hitler and Mussolini in WWII but fascist dictator Francisco Franco survived. The Spanish Civil War ( 1936-1939 ) victor held power until his death in 1975. Arguably, he defeated Communism in Spain but the cost was social and intellectual repression and economic impoverishment. In 1936, Franco's minions murdered Spain's leading poet and playwright, Federico Garcia Lorca, as much for his open homosexuality as for his views. Lorca joined no political party, but his writing challenged Spain's Neanderthal social codes and sexual hypocrisy. Only recently has Spain acknowledged the gay gene of its great national laureate, dead at just 38.
Cuban-American author Nilo Cruzalso a gay poet and playwrightconjures Lorca's history and personality in this language-rich but not-altogether-successful play. Cruz places Lorca at the moment of his death, finding himself in Limbo where he is confronted by five aspects of his own life/personality including Lorca as a Woman and Lorca in drag ( hence, the play's title ) . He doesn't know he is dead, and the task of his alter egosprodded by a vicious generalis to help his transition.
It's a highly problematic conceit because throughout Act I Lorca is a passive figure. He merely reacts to what is done around him rather than controlling or initiating the action himself, while the others provide lengthy exposition. Act II is far stronger as Lorca actively chooses to go back among the living as a ghost before accepting his death. Yes, it seems to borrow from Our Town, but it works. And one wonders why they all don't kick the general in the balls. They're already dead, what can he do to them?
It's difficult to fault the performers ( as viewed at the final preview ) even as they struggle to breathe life into sometimes-stiff material. Carlos Rogelio Diaz is passionate and intense as Lorca, striking his deepest notes with Miguel Nunez as sensual Green Dress Lorca and Greg Wenz and Nilsa Reyna who play aspects of Lorca and also Salvador and Anna-Maria Dali. Cruz supports his rather artificial premise with some Brecht-like use of songs and dance, which are well-executed in this production and add a great deal. Mike Cuchna is the authentic Flamenco guitarist/singer and Terri Lopez the dancer. Director Juan Castaneda keeps his three-quarter round staging fairly simple but effective in a production without elaborate design elements. One flaw is that some moments of dialogue are so softly spoken and conversational that one can't hear them.
Lorca is an important literary and gay figure. This play and the recent film Little Ashes ( about Lorca, Dali and Luis Bunuel ) reveal much about Lorca but little, I fear, about his plays and poetry, which remain too-seldom seen or read by English speakers, although Halcyon has produced Lorca's Yerma.