In 'Angel,' Secrets And Crime Intersect
By
Tricia Olszewski - Washington
Post Staff Writer
Friday,
When the nameless officer (Manuel Cabrera-Santos) arrives at a present-day
Latin American apartment late on a stormy night to investigate a potential
homicide, he finds a bloodied middle-age corpse and, lying next to him, a
whimpering, effeminate young man (Sebastian Rodriguez). After the young man
tries to run, the detective assumes he is guilty; the young man hardly speaks,
and although the detective occasionally asks him what happened, it seems he
doesn't really want to know.
Instead, the detective shapes a scenario in which the rich dead man enticed the younger one to be his lover, a microcosmic relationship that suggests wealth and lust will corrupt even the most innocent or upstanding members of an increasingly fetid society. And the detective knows whereof he speaks: This keeper of the peace, who is already burdened by the daily confessions of strangers compelled to tell him their stories, has a dirty little secret himself, a weakness that has destroyed his family and his pride.
"The sun seems to clean everything, but it is a lie," the tortured
investigator tells the young man as a new day breaks. "Nothing is
forgotten." These lines are two of the script's broad allusions to the
poisonous regime of Augusto Pinochet, who ruled
One doesn't have to be familiar with Latin American history to enjoy "Angel," however. Its superficial whodunit story is gripping as it veers from the crime at hand to the detective's slow confession of his own misdeeds. Cabrera-Santos, clad in the ill-fitting suit and fedora appropriate for an underpaid cop, navigates the emotionally packed script with a naturalness that keeps his character's rapid mood changes believable and, to the end, watchable -- no easy feat in a 90-minute show in which nothing much happens. The smooth-faced, curly-haired Rodriguez, whose costume eventually switches from white pajamas to black sweats, is mainly asked to scurry about the stage in reaction to the detective's accusations, but his largely wordless desperation is clear and poignant. A competent simultaneous translation (accessible through headphones) by Charles Becker and Marolo Santalli stays on pace with the actors, making "Angel" accessible to English-speaking audiences.
As always, Gala serves the play with style, with the action taking place in
Milagros Ponce de
El Angel de la Culpa, by Marco Antonio de la Parra. Directed by Gabriel Garcia. Costumes, Alessandra D'Ovidio. Approximately 1 hour 30 minutes. Shown in Dec. 2003 at Warehouse Theater, 1021 Seventh St. NW. www.galatheatre.org.