It was a lovely night at the Quantum Theater, the outdoor theater in Mellon Park. The weather warm, the night sky clear. The cast from the just performed play, "Peribañez" by Lope de Vega, walked onto the stage to take their bow. They were tight jawed to a man. Not the hint of a smile on the face of any of the actors.
Quantum is a theater group started in 1990 who stage plays "environmentally in places that aren’t theatres." This year, in addition to "Peribañez," they will do "The River," "The Man who Mistook His Wife for a Hat," and "Collaborators." The actors are young; significant effort has gone into settings and costumes, much from CMU.
Lope de Vega is a major playwright, a contemporary of Cervantes and Shakespeare, who influenced theater profoundly. He was a lyrical writer and his talent was enhanced by volume; it is said he wrote hundreds of plays. His life was filled with violence and contradiction but his themes are broad but consistent, often involving love and honor. He had profound respect for rural life, the Church, and the Crown.
In "Peribañez," a charming couple marries and, through a series of accidents, the wife becomes the target of an obsessed, love-struck nobleman. The opening scene of the wedding party returning from the wedding is wonderful, sincere and funny. Even the priest laughs at himself. As the story develops, the obsessed nobleman and his enablers develop an increasing but inept threat to the couple. The war against "the Infidels" provides an opportunity for the nobleman to draft the farmer into the conflict and expose his wife in his absence. And the play accelerates to its end.
Quantum is a theater group started in 1990 who stage plays "environmentally in places that aren’t theatres." This year, in addition to "Peribañez," they will do "The River," "The Man who Mistook His Wife for a Hat," and "Collaborators." The actors are young; significant effort has gone into settings and costumes, much from CMU.
Lope de Vega is a major playwright, a contemporary of Cervantes and Shakespeare, who influenced theater profoundly. He was a lyrical writer and his talent was enhanced by volume; it is said he wrote hundreds of plays. His life was filled with violence and contradiction but his themes are broad but consistent, often involving love and honor. He had profound respect for rural life, the Church, and the Crown.
In "Peribañez," a charming couple marries and, through a series of accidents, the wife becomes the target of an obsessed, love-struck nobleman. The opening scene of the wedding party returning from the wedding is wonderful, sincere and funny. Even the priest laughs at himself. As the story develops, the obsessed nobleman and his enablers develop an increasing but inept threat to the couple. The war against "the Infidels" provides an opportunity for the nobleman to draft the farmer into the conflict and expose his wife in his absence. And the play accelerates to its end.
The play itself has some remarkable qualities. The classic English plotting is absent; characters surprise the audience with understandable decisions but decisions that are not foreshadowed. And so it is with the action: A play that in its heart seems to be a comedy veers quickly into dangerous territory. Cousins turn on each other. The goofy nobleman becomes malevolent. None of this is unreasonable, only surprising, as the English generation of Spanish Tragedy becomes fulfilled.
This was a completely enjoyable night, a well acted play under a lovely sky. The actors were good, the nobleman and the treasonous cousin excellent. The choice of the male lead was curious for, as a black man in old Spain, he likely would have been the enemy in the war against the "Infidel," but he was a credible and sympathetic lead, aside from an annoying mannerism he had rubbing his nose.
This kind of evening is hard to come by and should be supported by the community. I wish only that the actors seemed to enjoy it as much as I did.
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