Friday, October 25, 2024

Death and the Maiden at Pangea World Theater

The new production of Death and the Maiden at Pangea World Theater is a tense thriller that will linger in audience members' minds long after they leave the theater. 

Chilean playwright Ariel Dorfman's play is set in an unnamed Latin American country which is emerging from a military dictatorship into democracy. 

When the play opens, a nervous Paulina (Claudia Veronica Garcia) is alone in the isolated country home she shares with her husband. When she hears an unfamiliar car pull up, she quickly arms herself with a gun and hides. The new arrival turns out to be her husband, Gerardo (Tyler Stamm), with a stranger who helped him when he had a flat on the road. Paulina remains hidden with the knife until the stranger, Dr. Miranda (Tom Whalen), leaves. 

Tom Whalen, Claudia Veronica Garcia, and Tyler Stamm. 
Photo by Gisell Calderón.
Paulina is a former political prisoner who was tortured by her captors, including a doctor whose face she never saw. Gerardo has recently been named to a government commission to look into atrocities committed during the military regime. When Dr. Miranda returns, Paulina claims to recognize his voice as the doctor who raped and tormented her. 

Through the course of a long night, the three characters wrestle with difficult issues. Is partial justice worthwhile? Is it possible to achieve justice without transparency? Given the chance to confront your tormentor, will you become as bad as they are? Director Ismail Khalidi keeps the tension high and makes good use of designer Sadie Ward's set. The small size of the theater adds to the intensity of the play. 

All three actors are great in their parts. As Paulina, Garcia shows her character's strength and determination as well as her pain and anger. Stamm's Gerardo is torn between his convictions and loyalty to his wife. Whalen is appropriately enigmatic as Dr. Miranda, maintaining his innocence in the face of Paulina's accusations.

Death and the Maiden is both timeless and timely. It won the Olivier for Best New Play in 1992 and continues to resonate today as it did thirty years ago. 

The frank descriptions of rape and torture are hard to hear, and the ramifications of dictatorship are horrifyingly timely, but this is a gripping production of an important play. Get your tickets now as it runs only through November 2.