For the 14th year, Teatro de la Luna has started its annual International Festival of Hisanic Theatre. This year, the festival includes performances from Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Puerto Rico and Venezuela and includes zarzuela and children’s performances from the United States. The first offering is a stunning one-man show from Argentina’s Compania Los del Verso: “Quien Lo Probo Lo Sabe” (“Those Who Taste It Know It”) written and directed by Mariano Moro. A tribute to the man who was the world’s most prolific playwright, Lope de Vega, Moro’s script pictures Lope waking from death in a chapel in Madrid in 1635, where his devoted followers have left to mourn his passing.
Moro’s Lope begins to recount the events of his extraordinary life, telling of his poetry, his drama, his loves, his wives, his children, his time spent with the “Invincible Armada,” and his acquaintances with other writers of the time, notably Cervantes. It’s a long and rich story that sounds like the invention of a man determined to set the record straight.
| Onstage |
| International Festival of Hispanic Theatre |
| Where: Teatro de la Luna, Gunston Arts Center, 2700 S. Lang St., Arlington |
| When: Through Nov. 19 |
| Info: $30 to $35; 703-548-3092; teatrodelaluna.org |
But clever as Moro’s script is, it provides only part of the appeal of “Quien Lo Probo Lo Sabe.” At least as much credit must be given to the brilliant actor who portrays Lope de Vega, Mariano Mazzei. From the first moments of the play, when he jerks himself upright in the manner of a puppet being controlled by an unseen puppeteer, until the play’s final moment, Mazzei gives a performance that is astonishing in terms of pure energy and technical ability.
Mazzei speaks as Lope virtually nonstop for nearly 90 minutes and makes that time seem like half an hour. As he races and spins and dances through Lope’s monologue, it’s easy to see in Mazzei’s performance strains of Commedia Dell’arte influence: Here Lope is the lovesick fool, there the swordsman. Unfortunately, this show will not be played again during the festival, but it’s a performance that is indicative of the quality of the productions brought to Arlington by Teatro de la Luna each year.
This weekend, Teatro Raiz from Costa Rica will perform “Latinas.” Through Saturday, Zero No Zero Teatro from Ecuador, will present “Medea Llama Por Cobrar.” The following weekend, two theaters from Puerto Rico will bring “Coraje II.” Nov. 10 to 12, I. E. Producciones C.A. from Venezuela will present “Relatos Borrachos.” Zarzuela Di Si and Teatro de la Luna will put on “Luisa Fernanda” Nov. 17 to 19. And on Oct. 29, Nov. 5 and Nov. 12, Teatro de la Luna presents children’s theater. All performances are in Spanish with simultaneous translation.
