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BY MIA LEONIN - Special to The Miami Herald
At the beginning of Teatro en Miami's latest production, Enema, Antonio, a frustrated young priest proclaims: ``Love is that feeling, between sighs and sweat that I converted into idiotic poems that no one understands.''
Writing under the pseudonym ''The Prince,'' Antonio (Ariel Texidó) struggles to create a truly original work of art in the face of the 18th century's staunch moral code. After rejecting the platitudes of love poetry, the disillusioned bard begins to envision a play that bypasses all predictable plotlines and tropes.
Antonio imagines a comedy penned for an audience 300 years into the future, where characters speak not from the head or heart, but rather, from the ass. Yes, the backside. Behind, rear end, tushie, derriere.
''I could invent a world where the a------ is placed where there is a head and we would think with our ass,'' Antonio exclaims as he scribbles furiously. ``A world upside down, of characters that sing the most beautiful and foul-smelling verses.''
And if the more genteel theatergoer hopes to consign such vulgarities to the realm of the allegorical, upstage a curtain opens revealing Dorcomia (Anniamary Martínez) and Merdufo (Leandro Peraza), a couple sporting costumes that depict white, rounded buttocks atop their heads. Bowing and turning with courtly aplomb, the two exchange acerbic quips as they discover (and eventually delight in) what previously were their liberally cloaked backsides.
These characters represent Antonio's sardonic social commentary. He explains the play's impetus: ``Everyone is afraid to be different. And, behind those repetitive phrases, there is that putrid smell . . . That is why our words should come out of our a------s.''
Written in Spanish and directed by Ernesto García with supertitles in English, Enema is one of García's most confrontational plays yet. Although the strong language and unorthodox perspective might shock audiences, a few important choices secure the play's success -- namely the selection of Texidó for the role of Antonio. Texidó delivers García's intellectually dense soliloquies with a visceral sense of urgency and discovery.
García also balances the play's philosophical impulse with a hefty dose of bawdy humor. Pious nuns hide swinging phalli beneath chaste robes. An illiterate servant girl (Marcia Stadler) morphs from sex toy to muse. Stadler's Dolores is appropriately salacious, but her lack of range limits the character's dimension.
On the whole though, the cast of this darkly humorous comedy is solid.
Enema is accessible to English-speaking audiences via supertitles that are projected onto a small screen to the left of the stage. It's not as fluid as the opera-style supertitles that roll across larger stages, but the translation of the text is excellent and the projection functions well in Teatro's intimate studio setting.
At the beginning of Teatro en Miami's latest production, Enema, Antonio, a frustrated young priest proclaims: ``Love is that feeling, between sighs and sweat that I converted into idiotic poems that no one understands.''
Writing under the pseudonym ''The Prince,'' Antonio (Ariel Texidó) struggles to create a truly original work of art in the face of the 18th century's staunch moral code. After rejecting the platitudes of love poetry, the disillusioned bard begins to envision a play that bypasses all predictable plotlines and tropes.
Antonio imagines a comedy penned for an audience 300 years into the future, where characters speak not from the head or heart, but rather, from the ass. Yes, the backside. Behind, rear end, tushie, derriere.
''I could invent a world where the a------ is placed where there is a head and we would think with our ass,'' Antonio exclaims as he scribbles furiously. ``A world upside down, of characters that sing the most beautiful and foul-smelling verses.''
And if the more genteel theatergoer hopes to consign such vulgarities to the realm of the allegorical, upstage a curtain opens revealing Dorcomia (Anniamary Martínez) and Merdufo (Leandro Peraza), a couple sporting costumes that depict white, rounded buttocks atop their heads. Bowing and turning with courtly aplomb, the two exchange acerbic quips as they discover (and eventually delight in) what previously were their liberally cloaked backsides.
These characters represent Antonio's sardonic social commentary. He explains the play's impetus: ``Everyone is afraid to be different. And, behind those repetitive phrases, there is that putrid smell . . . That is why our words should come out of our a------s.''
Written in Spanish and directed by Ernesto García with supertitles in English, Enema is one of García's most confrontational plays yet. Although the strong language and unorthodox perspective might shock audiences, a few important choices secure the play's success -- namely the selection of Texidó for the role of Antonio. Texidó delivers García's intellectually dense soliloquies with a visceral sense of urgency and discovery.
García also balances the play's philosophical impulse with a hefty dose of bawdy humor. Pious nuns hide swinging phalli beneath chaste robes. An illiterate servant girl (Marcia Stadler) morphs from sex toy to muse. Stadler's Dolores is appropriately salacious, but her lack of range limits the character's dimension.
On the whole though, the cast of this darkly humorous comedy is solid.
Enema is accessible to English-speaking audiences via supertitles that are projected onto a small screen to the left of the stage. It's not as fluid as the opera-style supertitles that roll across larger stages, but the translation of the text is excellent and the projection functions well in Teatro's intimate studio setting.
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IF YOU GO
What: ''Enema'' by Ernesto Garcia (Spanish, with English subtitles)
Where: Teatro en Miami Studio, 2500 SW Eighth St., Miami, through April 25
When: 8:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday
Cost: $20
Info: 305-551-7473 or http://www.teatroenmiami.org/
IF YOU GO
What: ''Enema'' by Ernesto Garcia (Spanish, with English subtitles)
Where: Teatro en Miami Studio, 2500 SW Eighth St., Miami, through April 25
When: 8:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday
Cost: $20
Info: 305-551-7473 or http://www.teatroenmiami.org/
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