Hot Entertainment picks for October 2011
THEATRE: “The House of Bernarda Alba”
You think you have it hard? Try getting dragged out into the street and shot by fascists for being a gay poet. Federico García Lorca faced such a death in 1936 when Spain erupted into a political war.
The Classical Theatre of San Antonio honors Lorca this October by producing his famed tragedy, “The House of Bernarda Alba.” Five sisters are forced by their tyrannical mother Bernarda to stay in their home for 8 years to mourn their father. Tensions rise when they are stuck with each other and lose contact with the outside world. And when the oldest sister gets engaged to marry, jealousy breaks loose.
Director José Rubén De León wanted to show that Lorca’s Spain was a hard world for women, and that their problems aren’t all that different from today. “…[Lorca] was interested in the issues of women,” De León said. “Women were treated as property. Many died in childbirth since they kept having child after child.”
De León has made a personal connection with Lorca. He has portrayed the writer before in a one-man show he penned himself. De León first saw Bernarda Alba when he assisted a director as a teenager. He kept all the actors’ scripts to learn from their notes about each character. Today, he used those same scripts as he helped prepare his all-female cast for this production.
Actress Heidi Mendez plays Bernarda Alba with the ferocity of an alpha she-wolf ready to fight all challengers. Her walking staff is long and makes her a menacing presence. The five daughters are all portrayed with their own nuances, but each mixed with the same tensions of jealousy, paranoia, and blooming sexuality. But they still keep a tenderness that only sisters have for one another. “These characters are based on real people and the actors are portraying them as natural,” De León said. Gypsy Pantoja, who plays the daughter to be married, says this production of “Bernarda Alba” is a very ensemble play. “I want [the audience] to see all these women come together to make one heart that eventually explodes,” she said.
Tense, but a riveting drama, this play proves that our toughest ordeals aren’t far from home. “The House of Bernarda Alba” runs Oct. 14 – Oct. 30 at the Sterling Houston Theater at Jump-Start in the Blue Star Art Complex. Call 210-589-8450 for ticket information, or visit www.classictheatre.org.
VIDEO: Queer as Folk (UK Version)
If only we could all be young, gay and have a bad ass nightclub where we could party for the rest of our lives. We can at least pretend every time we throw in a DVD of Queer as Folk. But the gay boys of Pittsburgh we all love was based on a British show of the same name. And those Europeans don’t hold back – more graphic nudity, more foul language, and more unsavory characters. (But we also watch it for the well-written storylines and character development, right?)
Showtime’s Queer as Folk has long been out on DVD, but this month, for the first time in America, the UK series is being sold. This set is also easier to digest than Showtime’s version (only 3 discs). The UK Queer as Folk is almost a completely different show, but the premise isn’t too far off – 3 cute young Brits in Manchester deal with love, broken hearts, and self-discovery. Nothing like this was ever seen in Britain before, much less America.
This is the TV show that brought gays out of the broadcast closet. And you might find that being gay across the pond isn’t all that different. Queer as Folk: The Complete UK Collection is on sale where DVDs are sold.
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