culture

Enantito at the Teatro La Quadra
a review by Eric Jackson

The nation is in crisis. There has been an escalating series of terrorist attacks. In the most recent major assault, the presidential cat went missing. After an intricate six-hour counter-attack by crack special ops units, the cat was rescued from a nearby tree and the National Police fanned out across the city to carry out the ambitious Operación Termita, felling all of the capital's trees to prevent another such attack.

Still, the terrorists remain at large and the attacks continue. The president is demanding decisive action from the Minister of Security.

However, His Excellency President Mandamas is in a difficult position. The reporters from all of the nation's media no longer believe a word he says, with one exception upon whom he can count. She's his cousin, of course.

Sensing the president's weakness, the terrorists swing into action. Acting upon a cleverly concealed directive from their shadowy commander, La Mazinger, the heavily armed and highly animalistic commado cell, Los Tembol, set out on their mission of death and destruction.

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So, can a presidency survive comedies like this? And if you are prone to spasms of laughter, can YOU survive it?

There were no fatalities among the audience on the night that this reviewer caught Enantito. Those are yet to be arranged, by the presidential sapos who were surreptitiously taking careful notes on those in attendance.

You need to understand Spanish and know something of what is going on in this country to fully appreciate this zany farce. It's part of one of the busiest local theater seasons in quite some time, and stands apart from the rest as an original Panamanian work rather than an adaptation of something from another country in another language. While certain aspects of life here have always been pretty dim, in this epoch of crudely insulting public affairs and horrible television programming the creative spark has caught fire in several cultural scenes, with this play counting as another bright flame in our national renaissance.

Enantito will be playing at the Teatro La Quadra's Sala Mojica through August 29. Showtimes are 8 p.m. (Panama Standard Time --- slightly late) and the two-act play runs about two hours.