“Audiencia”: our review of the work of Temporada Alta 2022

The first thing to say about “Audiencia” -assembled yesterday in the High Season Festival– is that the public loved it. The laughter and applause of those attending the theater of the French Alliance of Miraflores, were a clear example that the staging directed by Vanessa Vizcarra and starring Alonso Cano and Gabriel González, was a success.

Among others, there are three reasons that explain this good result. The first, the resources of the text. Released in 1976 and set in an oppressive regime, the politician and playwright Vaclav Havel creates an absurd ‘loop’: the brewmaster tries to convince his subordinate, a problematic playwright for the government who has been forced to work in a factory, to incriminate himself. It is, as has already been written, a denunciation by Havel himself – for many the inspiration of the intellectual’s character – towards the Czechoslovakian regime of the late 1960s. Phrases that are repeated, rhythm, chaos and beer. A lot of beer.

The second thing to consider is the chemistry between Alonso Cano Y Gabriel Gonzalezwho interpret the Brewer already Ferdinand Vanek. They were connected at all times and not even the lady in the front row who took out her cell phone in the middle of the function to take photos of them, did not take them out of the character. Cano’s ability to speak without stopping and to maneuver various intensities was balanced with the calm required by the monosyllabic character that González brought to life. tension and calm.

The humor of Vizcarra’s proposal is the third reason, although it is also a characteristic that invites us to review what it is that makes us laugh. It is a humor, shall we say, of the old school, the one in which the actor has to exaggerate his actions to highlight the joke. For example, when the Brewer (Cano) leaves the bathroom, he stops and slowly zips up his pants. Alcohol does not support that decision: when the character does it for the first time, he has not had enough, and, although he will continue to drink, there is no further evolution in the action. However, it causes laughs.

It would also be necessary to put the magnifying glass on the construction of the character that Gabriel González plays. Ferdinand Vanek’s rectitude and uses of language are understood, but it ends up being obvious, cliché. The interpretation is very formal and it is not clear if there is an intention between the lines.

Some management decisions are also unclear. The work promises 50 minutes, but only offers 45: it is a detail, yes, but it gives an account of the cohesion of the staging. This is noticeable towards the end: Havel’s play is almost an exercise in dramaturgy (A wants to convince B, and B will eventually change), but in this version, the anagnorisis with is convincing.

There are also unnecessary redundancies, like the sound that plays when the Brewer enters the bathroom. Is it necessary for the public to hear you flush the toilet? Aren’t we going to see him, in a few seconds, pull up his fly? And not to mention the audio quality. The same thing happens with the wardrobe: Vanek wears a red scarf, a way of differentiating him from his interlocutor (both are dressed in a blue jumpsuit) and underlining that he is an intellectual.

“Hearing” –that had already been seen by Vizcarra in 2021– speaks, finally, of the meeting between two people with different origins and objectives: a worker and an intellectual. It is the circumstances that prevent them from being able to communicate and that it is so difficult for them to reach an agreement. The proposal complies with being an absurd comedy, but the tragic desire and the political objective with which it was written is lost and, with it, the opportunity for the message to invite reflection on the most obvious, on national current affairs.

• Author: Vaclav Havel
• Direction: Vanessa Vizcarra
• Cast: Gabriel Gonzalez and Alonso Cano
• Duration: 45 minutes
• Last function: today, Wednesday, February 16, 8 pm
• Place: French Alliance of Miraflores
• Tickets: Joinnus.com

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