"La Malinche": Spanish for Mediocre?
Arizona Theatre Company's La Malinche at Herberger Theater
** (out of *****)
Mark S.P. Turvin
(w) 965-1021  (h) 894-5443
I can be reached for comment via e-mail at: mspt@asu.edu

	Visuals in theatre are a very powerful and important thing. 
Much can be conveyed without the use of words, by stage pictures, 
scenery, lighting, and blocking. Unfortunately, except in very 
rare circumstances, plays tend to need more than just striking 
poses and beautiful and ironic set and lighting to carry 
themselves through the evening, they also need a compelling, 
enlightening and/or entertaining text. Arizona Theatre Company's 
world premiere of Carlos Morton's "La Malinche," with one blaring 
exception, is visually stunning, combining spectacular lighting 
and scenery elements with beautiful still-lives of actors. The 
play only comes apart when the text is incorporated. 
	Supposedly based on the Greek myth of "Medea" (though the 
authors liberties with the myth are unforgivable) Mr. Morton 
changes the location to 16th century Mexico City, seven years 
after the Spanish conquest, and has populated his text with the 
real-life characters of Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortez and his 
Mayan wife La Malinche (though their actual history is nothing 
like this portrayal). Mr. Morton has Cortez follow the route of 
Jason, as he forsakes his seven year marriage to La Malinche in 
favor of a bond with the Bishop's niece in an attempt to gain a 
social position. Thus scorned, La Malinche lets loose her jealousy 
and kills first the new bride, then her son with Cortez, with the 
dual purpose of exacting vengeance on Cortez while attempting to 
make up for her betrayal of her Mayan roots. Mr. Morton's changing 
of history can be forgiven, but his deconstruction of the "Medea" 
myth for his own political purposes (having La Malinche kill her 
son more as a sacrifice for her own betrayal of her people than as 
originally intended in the myth) is inexcusable. He seems to pick 
and take what's necessary to get his political message across, and 
toss away what doesn't work for his purposes. Worse than all of 
this, his prose reads not like the writing of a second-generation 
Mexican-American with a Ph.D, but in a stilted way reminiscent of 
a poor translation from a native tongue to a partly understood 
foreign one. There should be some warning when a page of the 
program is devoted to a glossary of Aztec words and players. These 
words are liberally littered through the script, prompting one to 
ask why an interpreter wasn't included in the cast.
	To the actors defense, little can be blamed on them. They all 
give a valiant effort, especially Yolande Bavan as the Mayan 
Goddess La Llorona, a sorceress doomed for eternity to wander the 
shores of the lake holding the cradle of the child she drowned. 
She portrays the dark sorceress with much conviction and power, 
carrying parts of the show that would ordinarily have lulled most 
audiences to sleep. The performers jerky movements and halting 
ways are obviously the masterwork of their director, Abel Lopez, 
who gives us a beautiful montage and dumb show of the characters 
at the beginning, and is unable to pique our interest after. 
	As mentioned before, the play looks wonderful, and credit 
goes to Monica Raya's scenic design, Tracy Odishaw's lighting, 
Rose Pederson's costumes and David Maddox' sound, which had 
beautiful music playing at times, but unfortunately not loud 
enough to drown out the text. The set pieces were magnificent, and 
even added ironic commentaries such as the double use of an Aztec 
pyramid that doubled as the steps to the cathedral built on top of 
it, and the pillars and figures astride them that added to each 
scene. The only blaring problem visually was the sight of the back 
wall of the theatre as the pyramid rolled in and out, breaking the 
mood of the piece entirely.
	In this world of political correctness, there will be many 
who will defend Mr. Morton's liberal reinterpretation of history 
and the myth of "Medea," but in a basic, dramatic sense, the 
action of the play is undercut when a secondary motivation is 
allowed in the last scenes to suddenly take prominence, and become 
the reasoning behind one of the most horrific actions. La 
Malinche's sacrifice of her and Cortez' son to "get in good" with 
the Mayan's is a weaker and disturbing motivation. Mr. Morton has 
changed Medea from woman scorned to social climber, and added 
nothing to history or myth in the process. 

Production Details:
"La Malinche" by Carlos Morton
Arizona Theatre Company
Herberger Theatre, Phoenix
252-8497
February 7-22, 1997

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