“Death and the Maiden”

By Robert Walling
The Theatre Department presented “Death and the Maiden” by Ariel Dorfman Oct. 28, 29 and 30 at the College Theatre. The production was the first directed by new Theatre Director R. Carson Soelberg. The three-person cast were also acting for the West Virginia University at Parkersburg Theatre Department for the first time.

Playing the passive-aggressive (mostly aggressive) Paulina Salas was Dallas Zickefoose. Her character, now married, had been a victim of rape and torture at the hands of a doctor whom she can only recognize by his voice and skin.  

When her husband, Geraldo Escobar, played by Allen Withrow, invites home the good samaritan who helped him change his flat tire, she recognizes the man’s voice while the two men are talking outside. Paulina pulls a gun out of a desk drawer, then puts it back.

Later that night, the helpful man, Dr. Roberto Miranda, played by Kaleb G. Smith, drops by. The two men start discussing politics. Gerardo has recently been appointed to a council responsible for investigating past crimes of the former regime. Paulina’s rape was one of these crimes. Dr. Miranda accepts Gerardo’s invitation to spend the night. Later, Paulina sneaks into the guest room, knocks out the doctor, ties him to a chair, and points a gun at him repeatedly.

Gerardo wakes to find his wife has taken their guest hostage. He pleads with her to let him go; she refuses to unless she gets her revenge. He argues that there is no proof that this is the same man who raped and tortured her 15 years ago. She does not listen. They come to an agreement that if the doctor confesses to all his “crimes” in writing, she will let him live.

The doctor’s confession is acted out through a monologue. Roberto gloomily describes how he was pressured into performing painful experiments on many victims. Over time, he not only begins to feel comfortable with his actions, but also becomes sexual excited by them.

After the doctor has signed the confession, Gerardo leaves the two alone; he mistakenly trusts his wife to let the doctor go and not seek any more revenge.

I enjoyed this performance. Although Allen’s character, Gerardo, only called for a minor change during an emotional outburst, he smoothly made the performance believable. Dallas’s performance as a homemaker was low on energy. Fortunately, she sheds this characteristic when she seeks her revenge on the doctor. From here on out, she is impulsive, hasty, and frightening. Kaleb’s character plays the innocence card throughout most of the play, in which he is energetically waving his finger while he makes his points. However, during the monologue, a darker and sinister side of the character is flawlessly portrayed through the speeches poetic and changing rhythm.

With all the rape, torture and revenge, the underlining theme behind “Death and the Maiden” was forgiveness versus revenge. Can a family or country function if everyone seeks revenge for past transgressions? Is revenge justice or a vehicle for chaos? Who knows? The play ended just as Paulina got her revenge.