After the torture

Torture falls
On castle walls
And snowy summits
Old in story


By Julia Gerke

Even when it’s over, the pain still lingers.

Years after they have been freed, people subjected to organized political violence or torture still struggle with the memories, emotional pain and unanswered questions.

In Ariel Dorfman’s award-winning play Death and the Maiden — which in 1994 was turned into a movie of the same name starring Sigourney Weaver and Ben Kingsley — the main character Paulina Salas still reels from the aftereffects of being tortured for information during a dictatorship in an unnamed country much like Augusto Pinochet’s Chile. Fifteen years after her ordeal, Paulina is confronted with her past yet again when her husband brings home a guest and she thinks she recognizes his voice as the one belonging to her main torturer.

It’s a complex role with many layers that is dissected to the max by local actress Carolyn Fe, who is also artistic director of Altera Vitae Productions. The Montreal theatre company, which received an honorable mention in the 2008 Montreal English Critics Circle Awards (MECCA), presents an intense night of stage play with their production of Death and the Maiden at Mainline Theatre.

Fe is a passionate Paulina, who throughout the show fights with her desire for justice and revenge. She is alternately determined, scary, vulnerable, cunning, doubtful and understandably angry for being kept imprisoned, tortured and raped, often to the sound of Franz Schubert’s string quartet Death and the Maiden. The fact that her husband’s guest had a tape of the classical piece in his car only serves as further proof to her that he is in fact the person behind the voice of her torturer.

Actor Sam Croiteru, who has an uncanny resemblance to Kingsley, also shines in his role as Roberto Miranda, a doctor who keeps maintaining his innocence.

Bound to a chair and at the mercy of Paulina’s unpredictable actions, Croiteru’s Miranda is frightened and enraged. He and Paulina’s husband Gerardo Escobar (William Ward), a well-meaning but helpless man with a future in politics, try to appease Paulina by working with her on a written confession. Dorfman leaves it up to the audience to make up their minds as to whether or not Miranda is guilty and what exactly Paulina did to him. There are no easy answers in this play, and the actors, under the direction of Jesse Corbeil, bring out all the underlying questions and motives of each character.

As is customary for Altera Vitae, the play serves not only as entertainment but also shines some light on the efforts of local organizations or groups. This production has been partnered with RIVO, an intervention network for people who have been subjected to organized violence.

Death and the Maiden continues until May 24. For more information, go to www.alteravitae.com.