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by
Nilo Cruz
(British premiere) The Finborough Theatre, May /June 2005
Directed by
Michael Gieleta, Set designed by Alex Marker, Lighting design
by Guy Kornetzky, Costume design by Janne Robberstad, Sound design
by Matt Downing, Music by Russell Hepplewhite, Associate direction
by Pia Furtado, Producer Rebecca Miller
Cast
Lucy Barker, Linda Bassett, Tim Hardy, Simon Harrison, Irini Venieri,
Alex Waldman, Marcello Walton
Press
'Anyone
who has been to Cuba will instantly recognise the transformation
the tiny Finborough stage has undergone. The walls, hung with
old photos and curling images of the Madonna, are peeling, and
brightly painted shutters struggle to keep out the piercing Caribbean
sunlight. Designer Alex Marker has done a magnificent job.' Fiona
Mountford, The Evening Standard
'Alex Marker's
set is richly evocative of Cuba's dilapidated glamour' Lucy Powell,
Time Out
'We are in
Cuba. Before a word has been spoken, the audience is transported
to the heat and colours and decaying fabric of the Latin American
Island, realised by the accumulated detail and painterly imagination
of Alex Marker's extraordinary set. He recently created an enchanted
Victorian world in the Finborough's Trelawny of the Wells, and
now has provided Cherub Theatre Company's production … with
the perfect setting for Nilo Cruz's drama… The simple idea
of using the room's structural walls, instead of denying them,
and covering every space that is left available with set dressing,
creates a stunning theatrical illusion. Though detailed, it is
not cluttered. It raises small house theatre design to a new level.'
C J Sheridan, Rogues and Vagabonds
'…the
set effortlessly evokes the crumbling colonial buildings of Cuba,
with its peeling painted shutters and stained ochre walls.' Cheryl
Freedman, What's On in London
'Director
Michael Gieleta draws good performances from his leading actors.
He also does a good job in creating the steamy atmosphere of Cuba
with the assistance of designer Alex Marker.' Philip Fisher, British
Theatre Guide
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Havana
1961. Luca and Luciana's lives are irreversibly changed when their
mother puts them on a plane bound for the United States. The Castro
regime prevents her from following them. Havana 1998. The estranged
siblings return to Cuba to revisit their confiscated childhood.
Luca finds himself a Cuban lover while Luciana settles in a village
where the communist authorities will not allow a museum of dreams
to open.
The author
Nilo Cruz was awarded the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for
Anna in the Tropics, which ran on Broadway and internationally
With its
themes encompassing the Pedro Pan flights (when hundreds of
Cuban children left for the U.S after the bay of Pigs incident),
communist oppression, an impending visit to Cuba by Pope John
Paul II, incest and reconciliation, this is a tricky play to
pin down. All of these storylines and themes interweave, fracturing
and combining in a poetic, non-realistic way to produce a memory
play.
Given the
fluidity of text and location, my challenge for this show was
to produce an environment that felt like Cuba (A country which,
sadly, I have never had the chance to visit). Some of the scenes
and character changes handled by the cast were so quick that
having actors leave the space was not possible. Therefore as
many of the props as possible had to be part of the set. I designed
an environment whereby the theatre became the museum, with all
the props used and set dressing surrounding the audience, representative
of the daily miracles documented and displayed by Hortensia.
I built
a false wall at the end of the theatre screened by shutters
to house the special area where the miracles were kept.
At an early
stage the director and I decided to present this production
in a thrust stage arrangement. This is the first time I have
broken away from using the end on configuration at the Finborough,
(something I have wanted to do for a while)
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