 Cultural Amnesia and Theatre
of the Absurd on the Grand Concourse
By Robert Waddell, April 20, 2010
Its 5:30 p.m. on Thursday April 15th and Professor and director Angel Morales rehearses his actors in the theatre at Hostos Community College for the up coming production of “Siempre se Olvida Algo,” “You Always Forget Something,” at the college.
Actors Marisol Carrere and Barbara Santiago go over a scene where their characters have arrived home from a long voyage to Brighton, England. The scene de-evolves into a frenzied, hilarious and sensual ecstasy where each woman strokes her long-missed medication bottles. Morales checks sound, lighting and the actor’s performances.
“Life is absurd in its own way,” said Carrere, describing the scene. “It’s this relationship we have to inanimate objects we have. It’s hard for us to relate to human beings and this is an extension of our personalities.”
 This play is theatre of the Absurd where the actors portray caricatures, not characters, but through exaggeration and hyperbole the performers reveal a greater truth and allow audiences to interpret what they see on stage any way they choose. Along with Luz Maria Lambert, Luciano Patino and Melissa Diaz, the play by Cuban dramatist Virgilio Pinera, translated by Kate Eaton, illustrates the timelessness of a culture that forgets or remembers the past when it suits them with hierarchical tugs of war.
Carrere said that in developing her character she sees an internal logic to this absurdist play. She said that the playwright illustrates opposites and characters that are cut off from their fears.
“We were showing what people do behind closed doors,” said Santiago who plays Chacha. “In our case it was the medication. [My character has] one foot in logic and one foot in the absurd world.”
According to the Morales and his actors, “You Always Forget Something” can be seen as a surreal excursion with over tones of Beckett, Freud, The Cuban Revolution and today’s society that chooses when and how to remember the past.
 Or, perhaps, (this is this reviewer’s idea), that the under painting of the piece is that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. Lambert’s character carries the bones of her dead husband. Most likely the corpse represents history and ancestors that no one can forget or escape.
Lambert described her character as a busy body that “wants to bring order to this absurdity. There is logic. We’re four women trying to make logic out of an illogical world,” she said.
Morales said that he selected the piece because of its funny, provocative and thought provoking force in the text and how the drama could be illustrated onto the stage. The 5 actors, at this day’s rehearsal, were confident as they prepared for their bi-lingual performances.
“Other of Pinera’s plays touch on historical moments in Cuban history,” said Morales. “This play is universal and the themes are what many countries are experiencing, the lapse in the collective memory. “This play has been called the Latin American ‘Waiting for Godot’ for women, a tragic comedy.”
Because this is a play with four female characters, Diaz said that this production brings to life archetypes of certain women.
 “This is a funhouse mirror,” said Diaz. “Being anal retentive and never forgetting anything and coping by living in a chaotic world by being equally chaotic. I see these women in women I do know in real life.”
The comedy and the characters lead the actors, and audience, to a greater truth, agreed the actors and Morales. The set design will resemble circular motions inspired by Dali’s famous melting clocks.
“I’ve always seen theatre of the absurd as a fun ride for audiences,” said Santiago. “One of the characteristics of theatre of the Absurd is that just as it begins, so it ends where it started. There’s no message to transmit.
"This is like an abstract painting. Whatever the form and color the public sees that’s what they’ll take away from the play but there’s no specific message. It’s up to the public’s imagination.”
Performances of “You Always Forget Something” can be seen at the Hostos Center for the Arts and Culture, 450 Grand Concourse at 149th street. Performances are in English and in Spanish on Wednesday, April 28th at 7:00 pm (English), Thursday, April 29th at 12:30 pm (Spanish), Thursday, April 29th at 7:00 pm (English), and Friday, April 30th at 7:00 pm (Spanish). For more information call 718-518-6700. |
