(Photograph 51) stars alongside Steve Mouzakis (Death and the Maiden) and.Death and the Maiden tells the story of Paulina Salas, her husband Gerardo Escobar, and Dr. The Australian premiere of this hit Broadway comedy, a somewhat accurate. Ariel Dorfman's Death and the Maiden explores what becomes of individuals and nations who survive systemic crimes against humanity and asks questions such as, Can a policy of truth and reconciliation ever be truly healing? Or is eye-for-an-eye vengeance required if those who have endured torture are ever to move on with their lives?. Paulina Escobars husband Gerardo is to head. Set in an unnamed country that is, like the authors native Chile, emerging from a totalitarian dictatorship, the play explores the after effects of repression on hearts and souls. Tony award-winning Glenn Close, Richard Dreyfuss and Gene Hackman starred on Broadway in this political thriller.

Geraldo has had a flat tire on the way home, and has been picked up by the kindly Samaritan Dr. Paulina and those who survived have little hope of seeing their tormenters pay for their crimes.It's here that Dorfman begins piling on the improbabilities. 'Only the most serious cases,' the ones that resulted in death, will be pursued.

She's more of a display of post-traumatic stress symptoms than a fully formed person, and while that might be the point, it makes for a character that's frustratingly unknowable. Oh has a commanding presence, but we never get a strong sense of who Paulina is beneath her wild rages and shivering terrors. Miranda is in fact the monster who subjected Paulina to all-but unspeakable torments or whether Paulina is in the grips of paranoia.Director Yew coaxes adequate but not especially potent performances from the three-person cast. It's never clear whether Dr. Brandishing a gun, she demands that Miranda confess and repent, forcing her husband into the role of middleman and accomplice.The most intriguing element of Dorfman's drama lies in its ambiguity.

And that leads to two conclusions, neither of which seems at all likely. The last scene indicates that Miranda has been somehow disposed of and that Geraldo has succeeded in gaining his prestigious appointment. That leads to the hugely problematic final moments of the piece. As the go-between, Castillo simply doesn't register with any lasting impact.In the end, Dorfman sets aside the mystery of whether Paulina is an empowered force for justice of a damaged woman indulging in paranoid fantasies. Miranda moves from outraged denial to panicked pleading effectively, but he's a bland cipher throughout.

Either way, Death and the Maiden is tough to recommend. The latter isn't a drama, it's a prolonged description of a condition. The former is contrivance. Miranda and Paulina, Death and the Maiden either relies wholly on unbelievable happenstance or provides a prolonged, unvarying look at the psychic and physical damage of torture. But that's not the story Dorfman winds up with.Depending on what you conclude about Dr.

Death And The Maiden Broadway