la muerte y la doncella
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Mentally I was in Chile, in Paulina's house as I read the piece, holding my breath, unable to stop listening to the main characters's words, as they popped up showing all sorts of human nerve. There is a nerve, a red thread if you will, that consists of a trauma, a theme that can't possibly lose your interest. The main character, Paulina, was raped and tortured during Pinochet's regime, she was one of those who suddenly "disappeared"- but she was able to return to her house and marry her boyfriend. About 20 years later, she gets to hear a voice inside their house, a voice that she recognizes as her torturers'. But is it really him? What is she going to do with him? As the play moves forward, important issues and life stories are being revealed, along with some moral questions readable between the lines: Should this man be treated as was she? What about forgiveness on the one hand, vengeance on the other? The reader's own views on these issues are being reflected upon him or her, as when a mirror is put in front of you and you see yourself. At the theatre that is actually what is done, a real mirror is put in front of the public as one of the scenes ends.
Paulina's life story is a tough one, how has her husband taken it during these years, how has he dealt with it and how is he behaving now? Does he believe her? Does the reader believe in her?
Suddenly, something very long hidden seems to explode in her, and she gets a long hidden strength and foresight- or is she being irrational and crazy? The reader has to think for himself.
I strongly recommend this piece, it certainly gives the victims of Pinochet's regime a voice, and a very alive one.
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