Last weekend, the University Spanish Theater Group gave four performances of “En la Ardiente Oscuridad (In the Burning Darkness),” a play centered around the arrival of a new student at a 1950s Spanish institute for the blind. The cast and production team included members of the University Spanish Department faculty, students and others who volunteer their time to offer low-cost shows in Spanish to students.
The actors obviously worked hard to master small yet important mannerisms in order to accurately capture the experience of blind individuals in this setting. Actors altered behavioral patterns associated with seeing by avoiding eye contact with people to whom they were speaking, staring blankly into the audience and carefully watching their steps while gripping furniture to guide themselves across the stage. At times, it was strange watching these portrayals, especially when actors stared into the void while giggling or made eye contact with audience members during somewhat awkward hugs or intimate moments.
In under two hours, the cast delivered an incredibly moving performance. Snippets of Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” played throughout, providing the perfect accompaniment to tragic scenes and giving the audience brief moments to digest the inherent darkness of the play’s setting. Even for practiced listeners and prepared Spanish students, scenes with complex dialogue and fast action proved difficult to follow without the aid of English synopses or proper knowledge of the play’s plot.
Following a fight between new student Ignacio (Nasser Meerkhan) and jealous peer Carlos (Tony Pasero-O’Malley), the latter ruminates on the evolution of his ideas about blindness. In these final moments alone on stage, Pasero-O’Malley delivered the most poignant monologue of the entire production. His attention to detail, show of confidence and dramatic facial expressions proved almost too heartbreaking to watch. His body shook, his face gained color rapidly and he began to weep, going so far as to spit on the stage in anger, realizing he would remain blind, piteous and alone despite his participation in the conflict, which resulted in the death of Ignacio.
In his unique position, Carlos explained the play’s title in truly tragic fashion, forced to accept his life “in the blinding darkness,” where he was unable to clearly see the truth in situations or the faces of those he loved. This intense closing scene solidified the vastly impressive performance produced by these dedicated students and faculty.
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