review

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Books, Is There a Hole in the Boat?
Viva! by the Theatre Guild

Viva! makes light of the Cold War in a banana republic

Summer satire by the Theatre Guild

a review by Eric Jackson

Viva!

Written by Andy de la Tour

Directed by Ron Leggiere

Produced by Gale Cellucci and the Guild Board of Governors

with Irving Becerra, Bernardo Ordás, Juan de la Guardia, Eric Levy / Alejandro Alemán, Roberto Bruno, María Theoktisto, Varoon Anand, José Cochez, Arístides Cortés, Ricardo García, Walter De León and Viveca Pinzon

Assistant director Jeanne-Marie Leggiere

Stage manager Nida Fernández

Set by Aristides Cortés, Lourdes Troetch, Gilma Quintero, Rogelio Sanchez and Ron Leggiere

Costumes by Jeanne-Marie Leggiere

Hair and makeup by Lourdes Troetch

Lights by Pedro Caicedo

Sound by Christopher Castagnet and José Cochez

Summer is slow season in Panama, especially in the gringo community. Some of the English-language schools are on the US academic calendar and a lot of people go traveling in the states in those months. The readership of The Panama News dips and so do attendance at English-language church services and plays of the Theatre Guild of Ancon.

But let us take things in their proper context. For awhile August was the off season at the Guild, but English-language community theater is now thriving to the point that, although the crowds are small, we do have summertime plays again at the little wooden theater next to the PTJ.

This particular one was a lot of fun, a 1980s British spoof of the Americans in Central America way back when.

The situation is like this: the late Sergio Moncasa may have been Uncle Sam’s SOB in Puerto Oro, but his mama’s boy son Chucho (José Cochez) is a liability to be dispensed with. CIA spook Bill Thackeray (Juan de la Guardia) is sent in to fix everything as the guerrillas are closing in with intentions of carrying away Chucho’s head as a trophy, or something like that. The best unbombed hotel in the country, the Intercontinental, is one of the few functioning places as the rebels close in. The president has to move in there after the tiny air force misses (or hits) the target and gets the presidential palace. The one reporter who hasn’t left the country (María Theoktisto) is staying there. The decadent general (Varoon Anand) and secret ex-Nazi archbishop (Eric Levy on the night I went, Alejandro Alemán on other nights) play large parts in the CIA guy’s plans and use the hotel for liaisons with hookers and money changing respectively, and the long suffering hotel manager (Irving Becerra) and lone remaining employee (Bernardo Ordás) try to maintain some bit of order amidst the chaos.

This is campy stuff, overstated in a British comedic style, and with a jaded European post-colonial perspective on American pretensions. The Berlin Wall may have fallen since this play first took to the stage in England in 1985 but the Yanks, this time with the Brits along for the ride, are off on another tragicomic adventure and that tends to make the play topical once again.

Let me set aside every mild mannered reporter’s attraction to Lois Lane --- and I still liked Ms. Theoktisto’s performance. My non-expert take was that Irving Becerra put in the strongest work in a night of good acting all around.

One last comment, wherein I redirect your attention toward the top of the page, to the credits. First, these are incomplete because there are people who run the bar and box office and take tickets whom I don’t list. Second, look at all the people doing multiple things. That means that even if you would die before you’d get on a stage and perform in front of other people, the Theatre Guild of Ancon, Panama’s English-language community theater organization for more than a half-century, could use your help.

Also in this section:
Cool Internet Sites
Books, Is There a Hole in the Boat?
Viva! by the Theatre Guild