Dan Via.
The Washington Post.
Friday, April 27, 2001; Page WE28.
"El beso de la mujer arana/Kiss of the Spider
Woman"
GALA Hispanic Theatre
Through May 20
202/234-7174
The thing is, we expect him to be unhappy. Oppressed. Starved for the taste
of free expression.
Sorry, no. Cuban actor Mijail Mulkay, with his moon face, ready laugh and
twinkling eyes, appears to be one very happy man. And why not? He's a celebrated
actor in his native land, a star of stage and cinema making a living doing what
he loves.
Mulkay is in Washington to perform "Kiss of the Spider Woman," or,
more accurately "El beso de la mujer arana," at GALA Hispanic Theatre.
(The production is performed in Spanish with simultaneous translation
available.) He plays a headstrong revolutionary, held prisoner by a repressive
regime in a cell shared with a proud, would-be transsexual, played by GALA
Artistic Director Hugo Medrano in a reprise of his Helen Hayes Award-winning
role.
Surely there must be some irony here: a Cuban national playing a man under
the control of a police state. Art imitating life, right? Surely the Cuban
government missed the proverbial boatlift when they gave Mulkay his visa.
Again, no. Mulkay and Medrano describe a Cuban arts scene supported by the
government yet surprisingly free of government interference in matters of
content. Says Medrano, "I think that artists are the most free in Cuba --
now and during the Revolution -- because, for some reason, Castro is very
pro-artist.
"Basically, there are no restrictions," says Mulkay (through
Medrano, acting as interpreter). "The only restriction is talent."
In truth, the actor seems a bit circumspect in answering politically skewed
questions, either as a matter of personal style or simple prudence. He believes
most Americans have a skewed perspective of Cuba, shaped largely by the
vehemently anti-Castro voices of the Cuban American community. But rather than
offer a specific refutation, he says simply, "The only way to see the
reality is to go there."
Medrano suggests this cautious openness is a characteristic of socially
conscious Cuban theater as well. "I've been in Cuba many times and I've
seen plays that are very much 'contestatory,' [not, strictly speaking, a word,
but very evocative], but they're done in such an artistic way that it's not a
pamphlet," he says. Artists keep their social criticism hidden in plain
sight and the government looks the other way.
Despite its political underpinnings, "Kiss" is not really an
ideological piece. "The play can be read on many different levels,"
Mulkay observes. "The human relationship is at the heart of the play."
Seen in this light, the characters' struggle to forge a bond of trust under
difficult conditions seems a perfect fit for the Cuban theater.
It does just fine here, too. | 