Student: José Martínez Hernández e-mail: jomarhe5@alumni.uv.es

English Philology. First cicle, first course.

English Theatre XIX & XX Centuries Group B ( evenings ).

Play: Las variaciones Goldberg. Author George Tabori.

Version of Pedro Montalbán Kroebel. Traduced by Antoni LLuch. Directed by Josep María Mestres.

In this play there are two huge characters, big like planets, and orbiting around them quite a few characters ( Raamah, Masch, Jafet, Mari, Ernestina, Teresa, or The Hell's Angels chaps that without diminishing their work, are in proportion, quite smaller in importance.

In this play there are really two plays. One occurs in a theatre ( thus being theatre inside the theatre ), the other being a review of the Bible passages.

Therefore, people inside the play represent a character of someone that works in a theatre, with the problem of being badly paid and so on, and at the same time he is a biblical figure when the passage is represented.

In that duality, Mister J. ( probably the J comes from Jehova ), represents the director in the theatre and God in the Bible. A God that is not only bad tempered, but also harsh. And the other component of that couple is Goldberg. Represents the assistant in the theatre and Jesus in the Bible.

He has to suffer in either field the rage and orders of his "boss". And in both cases is the one that makes the needed sacrifices.

Among the chaps working in the theatre there is one whose character is of bigger importance, the one who plays " the Smoke ", as later on will be explained. The s

being as well the symbol and reminder of the six million jews killed in the crematoriums of the concentration camps during the Holocaust, probably the nastier horror mankind has ever known.

Therefore we have a tyranic theatre director, Mr J, giving orders to get things in working order for the representation, the assistant Goldberg struggling between the director and the actors, and the actors acting like workers ( giving trouble and confronting their bosses ) at the same time that different passages of the Bible ( Genesis, Adam and Eve, Abel and Cain, Moises and the ten Commandments, Abraham, Isaac and Sara, Jonas and the Whale...) are essayed on stage. Of all of them, seem to be prevalent the one of Abel and Cain, represented twice, the second with a twist. In the first one, the Smoke situates himself closer to the public, in a preeminent position, like being the more important of the three. During all the play can be seen that there is a bitter blaiming against God as the very imperfect world is not how it should. And the worst of all sins, is the one that is shown once and again, murder. Abel and Cain, the eternal sin, same as the more recent genocide of the Holocaust, only this time magnified in its number. After the crucifixion of Jesus, the sacrifice that redeems the world, the scene of Abel and Cain is again represented, but this time is very different. It is represented with the actors at the far end of the stage, further away from the public, with their backs towards the public, not facing it, and this time, at the very end of the play, the character representing the smoke lifts his arm in the last moment and stops the blow that Cain throws to Abel. Just a guess but it could well mean that in the same way that Jesus sacrifice redeemed mandkind, so did the sacrifice of the jews, thus allowing to change the scene and the story of Abel and Cain, or even more ambitiously, to change the world. It is evenly compared the sacrifice of Jesus with the sacrifice of the jews. Or maybe just as the scene was represented before, the Smoke knew what was the story. And you need to know history if you do not want it to be repeated.

Obviously, being Tabori a jew, is expectable to find a very sensible and important presence of jewishness. Probably referring to it is the sentence " damned be the one that flees as he will always be a fugitive ".

The history of judaism is a drama. And the play goes accordingly: God covers his eyes while are proyected terrible images of the dead in the Holocaust.

A big contrast with the humour that accompanies us throughout the play, many times black humour ( " the children of today are the parricides of tomorrow " )

Being a theatre story ( inside a theatre ) there are many references to this world, like criticising the critics or the sentences " in theatre like in love, you do not say thanks nor you do say sorry ", " in theatre like in love, nothing is like the first time ", " theatre is sacred, but is dead ", " theatre is the only alternative to the morgue ", "theatre is the art of the impossible ". Probably to the world of theatre and to the world ( and life ) in general, applies the sentence " so... then... again from the beggining ".

The play is a big one, relatively difficult to run. Being a theatre shown in theatre, the curtains were absolutely open, thus allowing the public to see ( not very often showed ) the less known part of the stage, the stage machinery, the lights, the staircase,etc... ) There is a lot of atrezzo to put on and off, there are the animals, the flags, red handkerchiefs symbolising blood, the big and impressive crosses, platforms to dance on, ligth signs, the lot... There is even a group of people that sing a song, and although it is not a musical play , they did it rather well. There are also sounds ( For instance, a helicopter ) and more music played when separating the waters of the Red Sea, etc...

The theatre was not too big, full to the top, and at the end the round of aplausse was fantastic, with the salute and bends of the actors by groups, but one at a time, allowing the public to aplaude more one or other, all of them except Mister J and Golbderg that came to the stage toghether, sharing the public's aplause and while so, hugging each other. Very nice "curtain" for a fantastic performance.