Death and the Maiden'
Denver's El Centro examines revenge, justice
By BRAD WEISMANN/Colorado Daily Theatre Critic
She's got the gun jammed into the fleshy folds of his neck. He's completely powerless - bound to her kitchen chair with nylons and gagged with her panties.
That's the basic situation in Ariel Dorfman's play "Death and the Maiden," a worthy if broadly drawn effort currently offered by El Centro Su Teatro in Denver. This intense drama poses probing questions about the possibilities of ever finding true justice, or satisfying revenge, for wrongs done.
Dorfman, a Chilean writer who barely escaped alive from the overthrow of Allende's government by General Pinochet's coup in 1973, penned "Death" in 1992. It takes place in an undefined Latin America country that has reverted to a democratic form of government after enduring a military dictatorship for several years. Gerardo, an official appointed to investigate the previous regime's abuses, is given a ride home from his stranded vehicle by a friendly stranger, Dr. Miranda. Gerardo's wife Paulina, a survivor of dictatorship-directed torture and rape, recognizes the Miranda's voice as that of the leader of her past tormentors.
Paulina pistol-whips Miranda, ties him up, and gags him despite the disbelieving protests of her husband, who advocates a more reasonable confrontation. She then turns the tables on her former oppressor, interrogating him unmercifully, despite his protests that he has never met her, and is not who she thinks he is. Her ferocious attempt to force a confession from her captive allows Dorfman to delineate with brutal clarity (and explicit language) the mechanics of totalitarian abuses, and to illuminate Paulina's still-tortured soul.
Dorfman maintains tension by keeping things teetering on the edge of explosive violence, in a way that holds the audience hostage as well. Paulina's thirst for vengeance is, at bottom, unquenchable, stalemating her struggle and underlining the seeming impossibility of ever attaining justice.
Director Hugo E. Carbajal sets the stage in the center of El Centro's auditorium, forcing the players to work to all corners of the room. Magally Rizo Antuna captures Paulina's ferocity and anguish, and Lawrence Gonzalez plays Dr. Miranda with a bland, innocent-seeming pedestrianism that keeps the question of his guilt hanging in the air throughout the evening. Phil Luna, as Paulina's husband, exhibits a spine of sodden cardboard as he is pushed to and fro by the evening's emotional outbursts.
Although the performances are laid on with broad, flat strokes, the work is still gripping. Most importantly, the rest of the play's run will be performed in Spanish. It's a testament to our assimilative culture that, although Denver's Hispanics constitute nearly 30 percent of its total population, El Centro Su Teatro, in its 31st season the third-oldest Teatro Chicano in the United States, is the only one out of five dozen or so area stage companies that serves that community's needs.
Its multidisciplinary cultural center, tucked away in the looming shadow of the interstate in north-central Denver, has presented countless works reflecting this unique and underappreciated cultural perspective. Bilingual theatergoers, and the unnumbered for whom Spanish is the primary vehicle of expression, should wend their way to El Centro's box office and partake of a riveting, edgy theatrical event.
"Death and the Maiden" is presented by El Centro Su Teatro, 4725 High St., through March 30. The remaining performances are in Spanish. Shows are Thursdays through Sundays at 8 p.m. Ticket prices range from $9 to $12 each. For tickets and information, please call 303-296-0219, or visit www.suteatro.org.