Costa Rican Theatre, Summer 2005

SPRING 2006 171 Costa Rican Theatre, Summer 2005 Deb Cohen This past July in San José, I met with playwrights Jorge Arroyo, Claudia Barrionuevo, Leda Cavallini, Roxana Campos, Wálter Fernández, Ana Istarú, César Meléndez, Melvin Méndez and Miguel Rojas. From our informal discussions, I learned that the theatre is very much alive in San José, but not necessarily lucrative. Many dramatists write and/or act for television, or serve as directors in order to make ends meet. In general, these playwrights focus on one or two thematic areas. Leda Cavallini, Roxana Campos, Claudia Barrionuevo, Melvin Méndez andAna Istarú mainly concern themselves with criticizing aspects of contemporary Costa Rican society (especially gender roles), while Miguel Rojas and Jorge Arroyo retain an interest in reconstructing the national past. Claudia Barrionuevo’s latest play, Mi mamá, ¿me ama?, was in its last weeks at the Laurence Olivier theatre (next to the Sala Garbo indie film house). This acclaimed piece (it won second place in the 2003 María Teresa León drama competition in Spain) breaks with the well-made play tradition, retracing one event in real time as it occurs in three different versions. Expertly acted by a cast including the playwright’s mother (for whom the part was expressly written), Barrionuevo explores the relationship between the swinging free-thinking grandmother, Virginia, her uptight middle-aged daughter, Elena, and her feisty granddaughter, Fusa. All three acts begin at 5:30 pm on May 15, Fusa’s birthday. To set the “real time” in motion, in the first act, one actor places a battery in the clock; in following acts, as the actors “rewind” themselves and the props to their initial positions, someone also resets the clock. Also important in each act is the special necklace, or amulet, from the north of Argentina that Virginia brings Fusa for her birthday. She says its magical powers will grant Fusa three wishes. Consequently, Fusa’s frustration from the events that have occurred in each of the three acts causes her to 172 LATINAMERICAN THEATRE REVIEW wish for something that changes the next act slightly. By the epilogue, which takes place previous to the other acts (at 4:30 pm the same day), Fusa’s three wishes have resolved her problems, and Virginia has somehow lost the magic amulet in her travels from Argentina to San José. Barrionuevo populated her earlier plays entirely with female characters. In a recent interview, she confessed that it was a challenge for her to write her first male character, whom she wanted to be sympathetic, yet realistic. She obviously succeeded, because Manuel, Fusa’s lover, is sensitive, attentive, self-assured and also comically clumsy. Fusa, who has avoided serious relationships with Costa Rican men because of the philandering of the men in her family, feels safe with Manuel because he is Chilean. However, in the first act, Virginia reveals that he is the illegitimate son of her ex-husband (Fusa’s grandfather), who once had a fling while visiting Chile. Thus, the taboo of incest suddenly creates a serious dilemma from which there seems to be no exit, until Fusa makes the first of her three wishes. In this way, Barrionuevo generates suspense, as the audience or reader waits to see how each act will change Fusa’s and Manuel’s fate.Although the play received a literary prize and good reviews, it suffered poor attendance due to its venue. The Teatro Laurence Olivier is located away from the center of San José, and parking in the otherwise residential area is hard to find. The inauguration of the newly renovated Teatro Vargas Calvo, the small theatre located behind the Teatro Nacional and administered by its director, Samuel Rovinski, took place July 22. Rovinski chose to honor tico Miguel Rojas by producing El saxofón (formerly Madriguera de ilusiones). The original play, a dark piece about an avaricious money-lender, his drunk friend and their landlady, sets up power plays among the characters, as each vies to wrest Clavija’s money from him. After her attempt to seduce Clavija fails, Azucena suffocates him with a pillow. In the second act, the tables are turned as...