By: Darryl Reilly
Anna Malavé, Guillermo Ivan, and Sandor Juan, deliver vivid performances in this shattering revival of playwright Ariel Dorfman’s renowned 1990 psychological thriller, Death and the Maiden. This Off-Broadway production is performed in Spanish with English supertitles and is billed as La Muerte Y La Doncella; it is presented by New York City’s Repertorio Español, which was founded in 1968, and presents new and classic Latin-themed plays.
38-year-old Paulina lives with her lawyer husband Gerado in a remote beach house in an unnamed South American country. 15 years earlier, the college student Paulina was abducted off the street in the afternoon by soldiers. She was held in captivity, tortured and repeatedly raped while blindfolded by soldiers and a military doctor who played a cassette of Franz Schubert’s String Quartet No. 14, known as “Death and the Maiden,” during her victimization. Gerado is now heading a government commission investigating the previous regime’s crimes against humanity. One night, due to an automobile incident, the jovial Dr. Miranda takes refuge with the couple. Paulina believes that he is her torturer; she ties him up, holds him at gunpoint, and conducts a trial of him in her living room.
(Photo credit: Michael Palma Mir)
Through technical precision, plentiful tension and ambiguity, Mr. Dorfman has crafted an enduring and resonant work of dramatic literature. The three characters are impeccably defined, the artfully straightforward dialogue shrewdly imparts exposition, and the riveting plot unfolds at a measured pace. The Chilean Dorfman brilliantly evokes the brutality of Chile’s 1970’s military government for the theater. Alas, South America and other parts of the world had and continue to have such violent authoritarian administrations, making Death and the Maiden painfully timeless.
With her expressive voice, sunny countenance and lithe physicality, the vivacious Ms. Malavé offers a simultaneously tender, feisty, and emotionally devastating portrayal of Paulina as she commands the stage. The animated and athletic Mr. Ivan beautifully conveys Gerado’s moral quandary of balancing his matrimonial and cultural responsibilities with his smoothly masculine characterization. Mr. Juan’s appealing innate everyman persona endows his appearance as Dr. Miranda with believability and the possibility that he could be innocent. This trio are sensational together.
In addition to guiding his three sterling performers, director Jean Carlo Yunén Aróstegui prodigiously employs high caliber stagecraft including clever use of scrims on the contained playing area, miraculously conjuring an epic presentational dimension. Foliage, blinds, and choice furnishings are the key elements of scenic designer Rodrigo Escalante’s striking living room. Larry Ortiz’s shadowy eerie lighting design contributes to the narrative queasiness, as does Camila Ortiz’s moodily bold sound design. Projection designer Camilla Tassi’s mesmerizing imagery complements the piece’s tones with arresting results. Oriana Sophia’s inspired everyday wear costume design perfectly visualizes the characters.
Death and the Maiden had its acclaimed world premiere at London’s Royal Court Theatre in 1991. The following year, Mike Nichols’ Broadway production opened with Glenn Close, Richard Dreyfuss and Gene Hackman. Roman Polanski’s 1994 film adaptation starred Sigourney Weaver, Stuart Wilson and Ben Kingsley. Arguably, these last two iterations were pallid versions as they had no traces of the play’s Latin American origins. As La Muerte Y La Doncella, and enacted in Spanish, this authentic incarnation is among the most powerful theatrical events currently on the New York stage.
La Muerte Y La Doncella (through August 11, 2024)
Repertorio Español
Gramercy Arts Theatre, 138 East 27th Street, in Manhattan
For tickets, visit www.repertorio.nyc
Running time: two hours and 10 minutes including one intermission