Living in Peru : your everyday companion

By Murray Lytle

It is always dangerous for someone who, by nature and training, is very concrete in his thinking to try and unravel art that is not concrete.  The play Los Numero Seis is not concrete.  This is not to say that I did not enjoy it or that I became hopelessly lost in its twists and turns but it was a bit weird for this cowboy.

The play was the winning entrant of the First Peruvian Drama Contest (2007) and is the work of playwright Gino Luque Bedregal who is currently completing a drama degree at the Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona.  The terms of the contest limited the entrants to criteria such as the numbers of acting parts in order to better evaluate the plays, I suppose.

This play, in fact, might have been the final chapters of La Fiesta del Chivo – the part that wasn’t included in the stage play recently presented by the Centro Cultural Britanico.  It was full of nasty victims and falsely accused, unwilling “criminals” who were tortured to generate improbable confessions.  As such, it didn’t match its billing as a totalitarian satire.  And that is really the sum and substance of the play – except for the parts I can’t tell you about without ruining the play!

For those who have not been to a play at the Centro Cultural Britanico, the theater itself is worth the price of admission.  Its size is limited to allow all seats to have access to the play; the furnishings are as good as any theater I have attended in North America and the acoustics are superb.  The design, lighting and sound were of a high professional caliber allowing full use of the stage, including special elevating sections, and permitting scene changes to be seamlessly made.

The acting was generally believable although the opening scenes were a bit stilted and the erratic behavior of the “victim” was confusing.  The police interrogators did a credible job of highlighting the irony of conversing about their kids while re-arrange the facial features of the accused. 

Do I recommend the play then?  Well, it is not a Greek tragedy but, as a first effort, I think it warrants public support.  Edith Piaf songs were featured and that is, as always, enough to elicit my recommendation.  So do go to the play; support the drama competition and this playwright; and post your comments below so that more learned critiques are offered.



Los Numero Seis

Author:      Gino Luque Bedregal
Director:    Ricardo Moran
Actors:    Leonardo Torres Vilar, Mariano Sábato, Carmen Aída Febres, Jorge Villanueva, David Almandoz, Manuel Gold, Jorge Armas, Mariano Laffaye y Bruno Ocampo.