Trilogy of Medieval Women

On Friday March 30^th I watched the Trilogy of Medieval Women on the main stage in Ida Green. Since the play was completely in Spanish I was not able to analyze the content or make predictions on the director’s intentions for the way in which the audience was supposed to interpret the performance. Not dwelling on the content allowed me to look “at” the play instead of “through”. Through my little understanding of Spanish I was able to deduce that the three skits outlined women and their stuggels from different religious points of view. It was obvious through Antonia Bueno’s performance of a Queen of Spain that the character was feeling anger and hardship because of her role as a queen in a male dominated society. Her voice inflections and demeanor on stage alluded to her discontent with her current situation.

In the second scene I believe it was a gypsy who was showing compassion to a young girl who was attempting to find meaning in her life. Through the pieces of Spanish I comprehended and the gentle touches of the hand by Bueno towards Mrs. Claudia Cortinas the mood set was one of empathy. I believe the third scene also had to do with the struggles of women but by that point I was too burnt out on Spanish to catch even the common phrases.

Bueno had a strong stage presence and accented the melodrama in her scenes. Her swinging arms, extensive range of voice inflections, and her emotional roller costars helped maintain the audience’s attention. I had only one problem with her as a lead actress in a play in Spanish for an audience where three-fourths was not fluent. Her lisp made some words unrecognizable to the untrained ear and I believe this also adds to the numerous list of distractions.