Jacobo Langsner 's Esperando La Carroza (Waiting for the Hearse) at Mixed Blood Theatre on 4/19/08

By: Janet Preus

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Waiting for the Hearse - Publicity Photo

Mixed Blood Theatre closes its season with its 10^th bi-lingual production, a farcical sitcom replete with flawed personalities and just over-the-top situations. Three families – one middle class, one wealthier, and one poorer – are united in blood by three brothers and an aging mother – apparently suffering from dementia – who is driving everybody crazy. The mother disappears, is reported missing to the police, and is soon believed to have killed herself by falling in front of a moving bus. So mangled is the body that the brothers identify her by her shoes. This, of course, turns out to be unreliable.

Unfortunately, what should have been a laugh-out-loud, biting satire of family, class, and the hypocrisies of both, became a frenetic shouting match. Because all the characters participated in this inexplicable interpretation, I have to label it a directing choice. The play had its own problems, but it had interesting characters, plenty of laugh lines, and a plot rich with cynical fun. All the director had to do, really, was get out of the way, direct traffic, and keep the tempo on track and it would have been entertaining, if somewhat forgettable.

Unfortunately, director Jerry Ruiz pushed everything way beyond reason; over-acting doesn’t begin to describe it. With arguing and shouting that started with the first bit of dialogue, there was nowhere to build to a climax that, in fact, became just another shouting match. There was no explanation, nor were there foils, for an entire family with no control over their emotions. Even the dialogue, which basically skipped building up to the point where one is willing to say anything to anyone, didn’t warrant this. How is it possible that this family never says a civil word to each other, or if they do, it is clearly ingenuous? This is partly interpretation, and partly the play.

The play. The premise is so universal, and the characters – even drawn broadly – so recognizable that it should have had that quality that makes Moliere plays eternally funny, even today. It didn’t. The play would have had the substance to which it aspired, I think, had a second act been all about what happens to the family after their mother turns up alive after all. That would have forced the characters to address all the foibles which were exposed in the first act. As it was, they remained fairly two-dimensional, with no resolution – come-uppance, if you will – which makes Moliere and other satirists’ plays so satisfying.

However, there was clearly more than enough acting talent on the stage to manage an enjoyable evening, flawed script or no.

Esperando La Carroza (Waiting for the Hearse) runs through April 27^th. If you haven’t seen SteppingStone since their recent renovation, by all means go. It’s a sweet space for both performers and audience.

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Location Info: Mixed Blood Theatre
Artist Info: Mixed Blood Theatre

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