The River Bride
Marisela Trevino Orta
A fairy
tale is supposed to have an air of magic, a sense of mystery, and a promise of
“happily ever after.” Certainly
Marisela Trevino Orta’s The River Bride, as directed by Aldo Billingslea
and presented by students of Santa Clara University’s Department of Theatre
& Dance, meets these criteria and more. From the opening moments of this fantasy’s dock-side setting
in the jungles of the Brazilian Amazon, we are surrounded by mystical sounds of
tropical birds, lapping water, and chattering river dolphins (thanks to the
expert sound design of David Sword).
We are soon introduced to an old wives’ legend of the Boto, dolphins who
emerge on shore once a year for three days to find true love, acceptance of
instant marriage, and thus a release from a life of underwater roaming through
life alone. And we begin to
suspect that Botos, former and current, are among those we are meeting as the
Costa family prepares for the marriage (in three days, of course) of one of its
two beautiful daughters.
As the
bride-to-be, Belmira opens our tale by throwing her father’s fish bait to a
chirping dolphin, expressing her excitement for a marriage to childhood friend
Duarte, whom she is sure will help her escape this remote village for the
exciting life of the city. Belmira
is the center of her own universe and believes even the sky’s lightning is
“announcing my wedding with a drum roll all of Brazil can hear.” She is a plotter and a manipulator who
will do anything to ensure the desired escape from this poor fishing village,
including moving in and taking over any beau who approaches her sister Helena. As Belmira, Taneisha Figueroa excels in
every respect from her sarcastic smirks and voice, to haughty flips of head and
hair, and unashamed pushing her sister aside in order to hone in and take over
a conversation. Even though she
has spent years winning Helena’s first love, Duarte, she begins to envy even on
her wedding eve the wooing of her sister by a handsome, well-dressed stranger
whom her father and Duarte have rescued from the river, appropriately named
Moises (like the Biblical Moses, “drawn from the water”). The more Helena (portrayed in a
sophisticated, reserved, but still sensual manner by Sonya Venugopal) begins to
fall in love with the family’s guest Moises (soft-spoken Elahdio Aliaga who in
his white suit, Panama hat, and bandana-wrapped forehead is both angelic and
sexy as hell), the more Belmira slinks and smiles her way into their moments
together, even as her wedding hour approaches.
Aldo
Billingslea achieves the relaxed, rhythmic feeling of the Amazon region with a
pace that is never rushed but always flowing forward with purpose. When the fishing father and the fiancé
Duarte take to the water, they do so with no visible boat but instead with
coordinated bodies serving as the oars that move them through the invisible,
but audible waves. Combined with
the free-flowing, loosely wrapped costumes of Patt Ness, we are lured into believing
that the family’s chatter and teasing of each other, the planning of the Belmira’s
and Duarte’s wedding, and the emerging love between Helena and Moises will lead
in the end to a happiness that mirrors what we see in the love between the sisters’
father and mother. But as storm
clouds, thunder, and very strange lightning of multiple colors erupt the
peaceful setting, we also realize that this fairy tale may be grimmer than we
had earlier supposed.
What
makes this play particularly wonderful is the beauty of the words each
character brings to the tale. Sticking
his toes into the river is described by Moises as “submerging into the
heartbeat of a continent.” In
remembering a time before life with his wife, Sr. Costa says, “I was an ache as
long as this river.” And of true
love, Sra. Costa tells her daughters, “Words are good for a lot of things, but
Love lives in a place deep inside where there are not words.” Poet-turned-playwright Orta brings a
stunning, musical quality to her dialogue that appreciates a director’s pace
that allows the audience moments to savor such astonishing phrases.
Clearly
the young actors of this university-level production have blossomed in their
roles through the luxury of many more weeks of study and rehearsal together
than usually afforded their counterparts on most Bay Area stages. Their nuanced portrayals speak of the
excellent tutelage by Professor and Director Billingslea and are a reminder to
us all to take advantage of our local, university theatre venues for evenings
of true magic.
The real
happy ending of The River Bride, 2013 co-winner of the National
Latino Playwriting Award, is that it will receive its official world premiere
and be enjoyed by thousands of theatre patrons during Oregon Shakespeare
Festival’s 2016 season. For
Marisela Trevino Orta, that must be a fairy tale come true.
Rating: 4
E’s
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