Mustard Theatre will soon be presenting Death and the Maiden by Ariel Dorfman at a venue near you! May, June 2014

>June Events / >May Events / Art & Theatre / Events in Norfolk and Suffolk / Tourist Attractions Norfolk and Suffolk / Waveney Valley May 28, 2014

Following on the successful tour of The Insect House last year, Mustard Theatre will soon be presenting Death and the Maiden by Ariel Dorfman at a venue near you!

“Speak out, and there is no denying. When you hide the truth there is only fear and lying”. Mustard Theatre Company brings you Ariel Dorfman’s masterpiece “Death and the Maiden”. It is a story of love, of constancy and of political expediency, told to a world where there are no answers, only more and more questions. With their growing reputation for controversial, demanding scripts, Mustard Theatre’s production ignites a play that has only gained relevance in the twenty years since it was first performed.

Early in 1990s when General Pinocet was still the dictator in Chile, Dorfman had the idea, initially for a novel, to tell the story of how his country had to survive the aftermath of the appalling events that happened during this period in its history.

The play premiered in the West end in 1991, and opened on Broadway in 1992 with a cast of Glenn Close, Richard Dreyfuss and Gene Hackman! Interestingly a local group in the Eye area produced the play in the early 90’s with Alan Huckle and Bob Good, both still heavily involved in the local amateur dramatic scene, in the lead male roles. Amnesty International were involved in promoting the play due to its political message. That message is still relevant today as so many countries are facing the issues that arise following a totalitarian regimes transition into some sort of democracy.

In an unnamed country newly free of dictatorship, Gerado Escobar is late home from his meeting with the president. Paulina, Gerado’s wife, waits with that mix of dread and hope that only survivors of torture know. Were it not for the generosity of Dr Roberto Miranda, who drove him home, Gerado would probably still be beside his broken-down car. But Paulina is certain that Roberto’s voice sounds like that of the doctor who supervised her torture. So convinced is she that she lashes him to a chair to interrogate him.
Gerado will have to decide whether to put his wife’s need for justice above his own ambition to lead his country’s reconciliation with its past.

Mustard Theatre Company have assembled an experienced cast, well respected in the local amateur theatrical world, Lynda Phillips, Rob Backhouse and Phil Ling. Directed by Steven Phipps.