MADNESS IN VALENCIA
by Eve Meadows – Stagehappenings
Although Lope De Vega allegedly wrote over 1,500 plays, sailed with the Armada, ended his life as a priest, and lived at the same time as Shakespeare and Cervantes, judging by this play, he is no match to his illustrious contemporaries. One wonders why this piece was chose to be presented to a present day audience. Here is a quote from the press packet:
Madness in Valencia explores the thin line between sanity and madness in a world where no one is quite who or what they appear to be. Floriano is a man on the run from the law. Erifila is a woman whose lover has stripped her of everything. Both have sought refuge in the infamous Valencia Asylum, the most renowned facility in Europe. Madness indeed ensures when half the occupants fall hard for either the beautiful Erifilia or the witty Floriano, who just want to be alone with each other. Sham marriages, fake fits of hysteria, and mistaken identities abound, leaving us re-evaluating our own private acts of insanity for the sake of love.
I am amazed that the interesting synopses just quoted could have been written about the inane dribble of plot, character, and language that was presented to me on this stage. Touted as a new translation, one wonders that anyone could stick long enough with such trivia and superficiality to even read it, let alone translate it.
A fine stage and appealing set, good costumes, interludes of music, clever fight sequences, yet the acting was universally on a high school level. No one told the actors that a little sincerity, reality, emotional depth, or even the semblance of centeredness and simplicity can improve even the worst material. Instead, it seemed as if the actors were encouraged to “ham it up” as much as they could. Such posing! Such high pitched screeching by the women! Such faces and indicating by the men! I do not blame the poor actors who tried with all their hearts and energy. They needed guidance which they simply did not have.
Perhaps this play, performed originally almost 500 years ago, in the open air, with peasants and noblemen wandering in and out, flirting, drinking, carousing, sleeping, and making deals of various kinds, in a production that must have contained more music and dance, in an era where semi nudity (Erifila is striped almost naked) was more original, the populace may have tolerated this farce in order to kill an afternoon, but that it is presented today, is a madness in itself.
