Preview
SEX, SHAME AND TEARS
Maple Salsa Theatre
Starring Nicole Dunbar, Elan Pratt, Tyler Rive, Jennifer Roberts, Geoff Woods and Matt Woodward
Directed by Javier Vilalta
Runs October 8 to 18
New Dance/Theatre
Maple salsa sounds like something you’d encounter on the menu of one of those nouvelle cuisine restaurants. And the name is apropos. Maple Salsa Theatre’s cuisine is new to many Calgary theatregoers – a series of spicy, exotic dishes in a city where the stage fare can be too bland and Anglocentric.
This is a burgeoning company that’s not afraid to venture beyond Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. to produce zesty work by Spanish, Mexican, German and Puerto Rican playwrights.
"Theatre in Canada, and North America in general, is totally secluded from other countries," says Javier Vilalta, Maple Salsa’s Mexican-born co-founder. "How many of us can name a contemporary Chinese or Russian play? It doesn’t mean there aren’t excellent plays in other countries. We’re trying to show that the whole world is doing theatre and that you can relate to other countries through it."
In fact, think of Maple Salsa as the theatrical equivalent of foreign cinema – minus the subtitles. It’s a comparison that seems especially apt when you consider its first production this season, a staging of the Mexican hit play-turned-film Sex, Shame and Tears.
A steamy glimpse behind the bedroom doors of the bourgeoisie, the play was wildly popular in Mexico City and its movie version – directed by the play’s author, Antonio Serrano — broke box-office records in Mexico. Like those other recent Mexican films, Amores Perros and Y Tu Mama Tambien, Sex, Shame and Tears gives a wider picture of that country’s society, which was part of the reason for its success, says Vilalta
"When people think of Mexico, they think of poverty and (the lower) class. This play portrays sexual relationships in the middle and upper class in Mexico City."
Described by Vilalta as a tragicomedy, the intimate play focuses on Ana and Carlos, and Andrea and Miguel, two yuppie couples whose already troubled marriages are further jeopardized when Ana’s ex-boyfriend Tomas and Miguel’s old flame Maria re-enter their lives.
"It’s (about) what your neighbours are doing when they close the doors, what you don’t see – all the fighting, all the sex," says Vilalta, who is directing Maple Salsa’s production. The show comes with a warning of "graphic scenes of nudity, sexuality and coarse language."
"It’s the kind of thing you’d see at three o’clock in the morning on Bravo," quips Matt Woodward, the actor playing Tomas.
Although Vilalta, who has also translated the original Spanish text into English, doesn’t plan to emphasize the Mexican setting, the play still requires its Canadian actors to duplicate the fiery tempers of classic Latin lovers.
That hasn’t been easy, says Woodward. "In Canada, you could never behave the way these characters do to each other and still be friends."
"When we (Mexicans) fight, we don’t go halfway, we go all the way," says Vilalta, laughing.
Maple Salsa has a thing for aggressive sexuality. Vilalta and fellow University of Calgary student Norma Lewis formed the company in 2001 to produce Quartet, Heiner Müller’s drama about sexual predators, for the annual one-act play festival at the Pumphouse. Their staging of the play was meant to be a one-off, but won the awards for outstanding director (Vilalta) and production. "That made us think that maybe we had a place in the city," says Vilalta.
This is Maple Salsa’s second season and the plays chosen this year share the theme of love and relationships. Along with Sex, Shame and Tears, the company plans to present Sarah Kane’s Cleansed (about love in an asylum) in the winter and, in the spring, a trilogy of classics – Blood Wedding, Yerma and The House of Bernarda Alba – by the Spanish poet-playwright Federico García Lorca.
Vilalta himself is Spanish – the youngest son of a family that immigrated to Mexico before he was born. The 26-year-old director grew up in Mexico City and studied theatre at its Casa del Teatro academy. He paid his first visit to Calgary in 1996 with a touring Mexican high-school production of the opera Anjou as part of a cultural exchange – an experience that eventually led him to move up here and take his drama degree at the U of C. "I wanted to get another perspective on theatre," he says.
So far, the one drawback he’s encountered to producing international plays is acquiring the rights to stage them. Vilalta says that, in countries like Mexico, scripts are seldom published and playwrights will grant verbal permission without signing a contract, then just as easily withdraw it on a whim. "We’ve had that happen two or three times to us already."
That won’t be the case with Sex, Shame and Tears, he says. The play has been published and this time the rights are secure. However, Maple Salsa isn’t allowed to use Serrano’s name on any promotional material.
"More than one person has claimed authorship of the play since it became successful, so right now there’s a legal dispute and we can’t acknowledge the playwright." |
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