John Waldron Arts Center brings Spanish theater to the stage

This past weekend, magic, love and mystery came alive in Bloomington during the performance of “Magia, misterio, amor y desamor” at the John Waldron Arts Center.\nPresented by Grupo de Teatro Vida, a Spanish language performance group, the show consisted of three short plays. Performances were held on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings. \nWith each play performed in Spanish, the three actors’ actions helped cue audience members about what was going on. Before each play, the director also came out and explained the synopsis of each play in English, which was helpful to those in the audience who weren’t Spanish speakers. \nThe first play, “The Cave of Salamanca” (“La cueva de Salamanca”), written by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, was humorous and entertaining. It told the story of a woman, Leonarda, and her maid, Cristina, who planned to unite with their lovers while Leonarda’s husband was out of town. A young student then sought shelter at their house and agreed to keep the ladies’ affairs secret. When Leonarda’s husband unexpectedly returned, the student saved the day with his tale of magic from the Cave of Salamanca. \nThe second play, “Let’s Get to the Point” (“Vayamos a lo profundo”), written by Argentine author Griselda Gambaro, was more of a monologue between one actor and the audience. In this short play, Fernandez, an Argentinian magician, was auditioning to work with magician David Copperfield – yet before she even auditioned, she delivered a performance of her own to the audience. She talked about her outstanding ability as a magician, yet attendees learned throughout the monologue that she did not quite understand many tricks, especially those performed by Copperfield. Throughout her monologue, she even got the audience involved through applause and walking through the aisles. In the end, she decided that her magic would be considered more mysterious than most magicians, and with this she was content. \nThe last play was the longest and perhaps the most complex of the three. It was a tale of love and tragedy. “The Love of Don Perlimpin and Belisa in the Garden: Erotic Halleluya in Four Acts,” (“Amor de Don Perlimpin con Belisa en su Jardin: Alleluya Erotica en cuatro cuadros”) was written by Federico Garcia Lorca. This tale was of a 50-year-old man, Perlimpin, who was urged by his maid to marry again. With the urging of his maid, Perlimpin proposed to his beautiful neighbor, the much younger Belisa. After they were married, it was revealed that Belisa was actually sleeping with five different men while Perlimpin was sleeping. Soon Perlimpin learned of what is going on and, still much in love with Belisa, pretended to be one of her suitors. Once Belisa revealed her love for one of her suitors, Perlimpin planned to commit suicide and kill the suitor with whom Belisa is in love. \nIn an ironic twist, after Perlimpin has stabbed himself and stumbled into the garden where Belisa is, he learned that he was the mysterious suitor she loved. In the end, Belisa is shocked, yet still has no comprehension of Perlimpin’s death or previous plans. \nAudience member Francisca Escoriza said she enjoyed the performance. \n“It was really well prepared,” she said, commenting the second play was her favorite. “I’m going to keep coming back.”