Photo by Mikki Schaffner
Fabiola Castillo (Ruth Livier) and Sebastián Jose Castillo (Eduardo Enrikez) in Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s production of Destiny of Desire, presented by Leading Ladies.
How does theater actually “exist” in the Age of Pandemic? Like much of our lives today, it’s now a virtual experience—a taped rehearsal; a live performance first staged elsewhere, then recorded.
And that recorded “live performance” is what’s currently being streamed by the Milwaukee Repertory Theater in what was to have been its final production of its 2019/2020 season, Destiny of Desire. In a co-collaboration with the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and The Guthrie, the Rep has now made available for watching the Playhouse cast that would have performed on the Powerhouse stage. And while the experience is certainly different, Destiny of Desire is the perfect antidote to shelter-in-place boredom, isolation, and a need to simply laugh out loud (as I did) for its 2 hour, 12 minute production. (Intermission is at the discretion of the viewer).
Playwright Karen Zacarias based the play on the “telenovela,” the most watched form of serialized television. The genre is highly popular in Latin America but has swept the globe; telenovelas account for over two billion fans worldwide. The dialogue and movements are over the top dramatic to the point of self-parody, the storylines obsessed with—what else?—love and sex and money and power and mistaken identities.
Zacarias and the uniformly excellently cast of 11 excel with this exceptionally funny send up focusing on babies deliberately switched at birth by a scheming doctor and a villainous wealthy new mother. Her baby is weak, the poor farmer’s child is heathy. We know where this is headed but it’s so fun to watch and like the actual telenovelas, highly addictive given the non-stop visual gags and comically rendered stereotypes from the not so heavenly nuns to the (gasp!) pseudo-incestuous relationships.
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What’s missed is the up close and personal, three dimensional feel of the actors. Choices on how to watch are determined by someone else’s pre-determined camera angles. And most of the angles were set back with full-stage wide shots.
The close-ups were welcomed and provided a more intimate touch yet appeared randomly chosen given the action playing out. And there is, at times, ambient sound picked up in the recording.
But in the case of Destiny of Desire, these are minor quibbles given the smart, sharp direction by Jose Luis Valenzuela, Zacarias’ spot-on “Telenovela Speak” And a terrific cast.
Got your attention yet? Sure got mine. And the best part to this streamed performance is the viewer has 24 hours to watch it. Again and again. For sheer laughs in this Age of Pandemic, watch here.
The live captured performance of Destiny of Desire is available for purchase at the link below, now through May 19, 2020. Please note: Rep ticketholders received a separate complimentary link. (Viewers will need to have an existing Vimeo account or upload an account via the free app).
