Exilios: obras breves

Last night Dr. Compton and I attended exilios: obras breves, a collection of four short plays dealing with the theme of exile. We took the subway system to the Auditorio Nacional, a venue which has many different theatres surrounding it, and from there to the Teatro Galeón. I want to point out that this particular trip is truly special because I am seeing Mexican theater with Dr. Tim Compton from Northern Michigan University. This is a real privilege because he is well known by many respected persons here and abroad as a trusted critic, although he himself argues the impossibility of being a true critic. But more on that later. I think you are more interested in the plays for now.

(Teatro Galeón)

Maybe a bit of background will help establish the framework for this production. In the summer of 2013 Sandra Félix, a Mexican director, produced these short plays together in El Foro La Gruta del Centro Cultural Helénico. We will meet with her later in this trip, so one of the big questions I have for her are what changes she made to each of the four works that were originally presented, as well as why she omitted two of the original six plays. At least we know that these plays were not produced for the first time, and that they most likely received criticism and were adjusted for this particular performance.

With this background in mind, I’d like to discuss briefly the plot, theme and other elements for the first two plays, and the last. The third play, for me and Dr. Compton, was problematic on many fronts. I recognize there is a lot to discuss, as Dr. Compton and I have been talking about them since we left, so please excuse the short space in which I will try to write down my thoughts on what took years to produce. My hope is that you might at least be familiar with some of the current themes in Mexican theatre today, as well as see some of my personal thoughts as I approach these plays.

Frontera (Border) written by Laila Ripoll

There is a version on YouTube of this work. The first thing you will notice is how dark the scene is. That’s because it is set in the desert at night. The version on YouTube has a grandmother and grandson, while the version last night switched the grandmother to a grandfather. However, the lines are the same. I want to ask Sandra Félix why they switched gender in this version. The great struggle here dealt with the grandson’s desire to cross the border into the United States of America while also battling guilt for abandoning his family and culture. This is a very prevalent struggle for many people throughout the world, not must Mexicans. In my own family my wife left her country to live with me, and I know from personal experiences that it is very difficult to leave behind family and culture. I get it, but I also don’t. I still live in my own country and it is difficult for me to come to terms with these feelings, but that doesn´t mean I don´t try to understand. I get it, but I don’t.

The grandfather in this scene was exiled from Spain during Franco’s regime, and now, filled with memories of his former country, he struggles to convince his grandson that leaving his country behind is a mistake with grave consequences. The story itself is compelling, but the delivery was a little unconvincing. As a graduate with a theater degree I come to the theater with a very critical mind. Once you understand technique, you appreciate it when you see it, but you also recognize where things lack with more precision (I’ve had many a critiques of my own works at BYU). It´s a double-edged sword of sorts. For example, the grandfather had many, many lines throughout the play, while the grandson kept saying he was leaving and that his grandfather should be quiet. I thought to myself, then go! If all you care about is leaving, which is what I’m getting each time you talk, then just leave behind your grandfather, like you´ve been saying! But he didn’t, until the end. I would have liked to see dialogue between the two instead of just the grandfather speaking the majority of the time. I think I focused a lot on this dialogue for the simple fact that because the lighting was so dark, the only thing I could really focus on was the dialogue. I would have liked to hear more compelling counter-arguments from the grandson.

Also, I didn’t catch at the beginning that the grandfather was really a representation of the inner struggle of the grandson. However, by talking with Dr. Compton, I realized this crucial element. With that in mind the play changed drastically for me. The reason I didn’t see the grandfather as a “thought” was the fact that there were physical elements to his existence on stage: the grandson carried him, pushed him, and they physically tugged at each other. I thought he was simply a very persistent grandfather. I feel this inner struggle is central to appreciating this work. One of my big take-aways here is that if we really try to understand some of the struggles immigrants experience when leaving behind their country and risking everything, we will develop more empathy and appreciation for each one as a person instead of, for example, a “threat” in their host country.

El buen vecino (The good neighbor) written by Juan Mayorga

This was, for me, one of the strongest of the four plays. The plot began with an undocumented immigrant who lives in Spain and who built for himself a comfortable life there. At the beginning he is sitting in a café when his coworker arrives to celebrate. He is very ambiguous about why he is celebrating, but eventually we learn that he found something to hold over him: he found out about his illegal status. With the passing of a new law that gives him a special power over the immigrant (he could denounce him to the police in any moment), he begins a controlling friendship with the caveat that if he ever disagrees to anything he will be reported to the police and then deported. After the previous short work where we see a glimpse into the struggles of immigrants leaving behind family and culture, this play adds to it the wielding of power over immigrants in their host countries, yet another overwhelming element.

What really worked for me here was how convincing this manipulative coworker controlled the situation. For example, on several occasions the immigrant wanted to get up and leave, but there was a threatening demeanor to the coworker that even made me feel uncomfortable, like he was psychopathic, for example. And the “illegal”, his new friend, remained in his chair. However, he reassured his new “friend” that he wouldn’t do anything humillante, but I think we all know it was a façade to the power he knowingly wanted to yield. And at the end, when he forces the immigrant to sing a song, he has been reduced in our eyes to a mere puppet. You couldn’t help but feel sympathy for him under this new dynamic. This person who built a new life in a new country is now forced to confront the fact that others now hold a unique power over him, and are conscientiously exercising that power.

(Un buen vecino)

For me I see a gospel truth here. Yes, there are consequences to our actions. Someone who comes to another country illegally broke a rule. There are consequences. I get that. But no person is perfect, and one action does not define us more fully than all the other aspects or actions of our life. So, when we come across people we know are undocumented, instead of throwing the blame on them for making what must have been a terribly difficult decision (as if we haven´t made terrible decisions ourselves), we should show love and compassion, not force or manipulation.

May I share an example where I saw this manipulation fully at work? While I served in the Long Beach, California mission for the LDS church I saw on several occasions the power business owners used to control their employees (low wages, long hours, etc.) who were undocumented. I think this play brought attention to this terrible present situation, not just a phenomenon in the USA, but in many parts of the world where people flee. And my take-away from this is that compassion should be at the forefront of our thoughts. For me, God is the person who will make everything right and who is the right and just Judge. We are here to love.

 Un día de lluvia (A Rainy Day) written by Alicia Zárate

This play was the other strong play of the evening. The plot revolved around two people caught in the rain, perched on a patio waiting for the rain to stop. As they awkwardly exchange pleasantries they gradually break down walls and express existential worries. By the end Julio renounces his former life and Alejandra finds herself where she belongs. One of the great techniques used in this story was the use of the cigarette, which by its very nature lasts for a short period of time, and thus the people know they can’t talk forever. As both calmed down from the nicotine they opened up and shared deep worries, Alejandra first, and then Julio. The ending for me was a bit problematic because the two decide to make a life-altering decision to leave everything behind after a few minutes of conversation.

(Un día de lluvia)

This last point, for me, was the most problematic because I have a wife and two kids and they are the world to me. To think that after many years of living together that I could just walk away from them because I can’t find myself, to me sounds selfish and disrespectful. It happens, yes. But it’s disrespectful to a wife that works side-by-side and committed years of her life to making a marriage work, as well as to the children that need their parents there, and it’s disrespectful to the institution of marriage, which depends on a commitment, like any other commitment between two parties. To me the scene would have seemed much more realistic had the two exchanged their existential crises and then realized they had to go back to their realities to work out their problems. That would have been more impactful because the reality of the situation would be that they would simply return to it and nothing would be resolved (sounds a lot like what happens in life, unresolved issues). But instead, the scene ended with some hope, fatalistic hope it seemed to me, that by leaving their problems behind they would eventually find themselves (a very romantic proposition). But in the end the acting, the props, the scenery and the dialogue (up until the end) worked together to make one of the more realistic scenes of the evening, and for me, one of the most impactful.

And, if I may leave one last point, in both El buen vecino and Un día de lluvia the place of origin of these immigrants is not divulged. In this way, the plays about exile seem to take on a more universal tone that I feel help the plays touch a larger audience than just Mexicans. As the playbill stated, “You don´t need to go very far to feel exiled” (my own translation).