The “Master” Race
Genocide has probably been around on this Earth, in one form
or another, to wipe out and/or demean a race of people, since the beginning of
Man. Certainly Hitler and his boys were
prime examples of that during the last century but they have had lots of
imitators before and since then, e.g. the Crusades; our treatment of Native
Americans and African-Americans; and continuous examples in the Middle-East,
Africa, South America and Asia. And the
results of many of these efforts—cities reduced to rubble, death of many
thousands of innocents, and resentment of other nations, as well as history. What a prize! As the folk song goes, “…when will they ever
learn…?”
This play gives us a microcosm of a result of these two
factions meeting some years later in the guise of just three characters. There is the alleged victim, Paulina (Mandana
Khoshnevisan), a woman, still living in Chile, who was caught up in such an
action fifteen years earlier, and is still haunted by the memories, especially
the Schubert piece, “Death and the Maiden,” the interrogator would play during
her torturing. Although, blind-folded,
she swears she would know him by his music and his voice.
Her husband, Gerardo (Nathan Dunkin), is currently a lawyer
and on a commission to seek out victims of these atrocities and, perhaps, the
perpetrators, as well, so that Justice can be served. And the third member of this odd tribunal, is
Dr. Miranda (Anthony Green), the alleged interrogator, who is now living a
comfortable lifestyle by the seashore, with his family, who denies any
involvement with the ruling party at the time.
When these three factions come together, explosions must follow, and
they do, but it will be up to you to see it to discover the outcome.
The interesting part of this play, although it does go into
some descriptions of what happened, it raises a larger question—what to do
about it and where does the Truth lie? These
participants represent, in a broad sense, a victim, a victimizer, and an
arbitrator, of sorts. Questions raised are,
would the victim be so traumatized by her experiences that, after such a long
passage of time, could she be accurate as to her memories? Also, how would she feel if faced with this
monster? What kind of fate would she
want to see him get? Also, a loved one,
how should/would they react if they came across such a beast? And how does such a brute justify his
actions? What kind of impartial justice
could there be in such a situation?
Ponder these when observing/experiencing this production.
Greer, a very fine actor in her own right, is now on the
other side of the “boards” and gets a chance to flex even more her artistic
muscles. So, when choosing a piece to
direct, it is not surprising she would prefer one that concentrated on
character studies. She has chosen her
cast very well and they are all completely convincing. What is good to see is that they all play it
with such sincerity, that one is left with doubts, at times, as to who is
telling the truth and what possible outcomes could there be? Tyler Buswell has a nice open set which gives
the actors a lot of room to explore.
Khoshnevisan is great at giving us a person who appears both
conflicted at times, bordering sanity, and being driven with a purpose in mind,
leaving you to wonder as to her state.
Dunkin and Green I have reviewed many times before and are always an
asset to a production, both excellent here.
They also show that these characters are not just black and white but
various shades of gray, keeping one guessing as to their possible actions, a
tribute to their acting, as well as the directing.
I recommend this production, especially for the acting and
directing but, keep in mind, it involves very adult situation. If you do choose to see it, please tell the
Dennis sent you.
--DJS
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