>>PREVIEW
NERUDA NUDE
Maple Salsa Theatre
Adapted by Javier Vilalta
Devised by the Spicy Theatre Laboratory
Runs until December 17
Big Secret Theatre
(Epcor Centre)
Following the September 11, 1973 overthrow of Salvador Allende’s elected Marxist government by Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s military junta, soldiers in Chile were dispatched to search the house of Pablo Neruda, a Nobel laureate poet and prominent socialist. Already weakened by the leukemia that would claim his life less than two weeks later, Neruda famously remarked, "Look around, there's only one thing of danger for you here – poetry."
While Neruda’s later poetry was deeply influenced by his political involvement, he produced many of his most enduring poems as a young man, deeply fascinated – as most young men are – with sexuality and the human body. Subversive in their own right, these poems are the inspiration for Maple Salsa Theatre’s Neruda Nude, a collaborative, movement-based performance rooted in the beauty of Neruda’s early, controversial works.
"There was a lot of intuition in his poetry, typical of a teenager," says Maple Salsa artistic director Javier Vilalta. "Everything that came out of his works was just natural, there was nothing imposed on them. Back then, of course, (it) was banned as just teen angst and filth."
Today, however, Neruda’s works have become standard reading in many Spanish-language schools. Vilalta, for one, was initially tepid toward the poet, remembering Neruda as a high school chore in his native Mexico. It was only at the insistence of company member Matt Woodward that he began to see the poet’s work as more than an educational imposition, eventually leading to the idea of this "Neruda spectacle," which premièred at this past summer’s Edmonton Fringe Festival.
The production doesn’t feature verbatim recitations of Neruda’s poems, but rather adaptations written by Vilalta, weaving together Spanish and English. The decision not to quote Neruda directly was influenced in part by intellectual property concerns, but also by the need to create a cohesive whole out of descriptive poetry without a narrative.
Vilalta says the task wasn’t easy. "I’m proud that, after a long, long time, we found a through line (in the poetry), something that flows and that is interesting and engaging to watch, as opposed to performing 50 random poems as if they were musical numbers or something like that."
With its explicit descriptions of the naked body delivered by an entirely nude cast, the show joins Maple Salsa’s previous productions in exploring unconventional, if not controversial, subject matter. But, while Vilalta admits that many of his company’s past shows have been deliberately provocative, he sees Neruda Nude as a chance to showcase beauty for its own sake.
"In the past, I was a really angry person, and a lot of the plays that I put on I just wanted to wake people up," he says. "So a lot of things I did, I didn’t think they were right or even well done, I just wanted to shock on purpose. I didn’t want (to make) theatre for people to just sit and watch, and clap and leave. I’m not trying to shock anyone anymore."
The reactions to Neruda Nude would seem to confirm that. "I saw a lot of seniors at the Fringe (performances) and they liked it a lot," he says. "That tells me that maybe that stage of just wanting to shake people has passed and I can concentrate on just doing things right."
In the three months since the Edmonton debut, Vilalta and his cast have had time to think about and fine-tune the production, smoothing its staging and delivery from what he says was originally an often-impulsive creation. However, even without the rough edges and the lack of any intention to shock, Vilalta believes the show’s content will remain upsetting for those who have always been afraid of nudity and its attendant suggestion of sexuality.
"I think that someone who finds it a shocker always will, because people have such strong opinions, and we’re not here to change anyone’s opinion," he says. "I think by the way the show is presented that it’s obvious that we’re not here to scare anyone, or to put someone in an uncomfortable position. But at the same time, you can choose to be in an uncomfortable position." |
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