MIAMI.- After the successful premiere of the dramatic comedy Se van las Carbonell, a work by the Cuban playwright residing in Los Angeles, California, Ral de Cárdenas, directed by Juan Roca, the play returns to the stage, this time in the Catarsis room of the Trail Theater , with the same cast.
The action of The Carbonells are leaving It takes place in Cuba in 1980, when Carmelina, one of the sisters, returns during the Mariel exodus to look for the rest of her family.
The Cuban playwright Ral de Crdenas is a costumbrista author with a valuable attachment to historical reality, something he rigorously recreates in his works. That, in addition to giving credibility to his pieces, also contributes to exposing, through art, the horror of life in Cuba under Castroism.
Taking as a premise the historic Mariel exodus, which in 1980 displaced 125,000 refugees from the port of Mariel in Havana to the shores of the United States, the playwright has written The Carbonells are leaving that evokes those events that shook Cuban society.
In the play, Carmelina, who had left Cuba years before, returns to the island with a boat during the Mariel maelstrom to pick up her sisters. The unexpected arrival triggers situations that range from leaving the past, the country and memories behind, to having to bribe the official in charge of signing the exit authorizations, since Manolín, the son of one of the sisters is of military age, therefore which is not allowed to leave Cuba.
Carmelina is in charge of negotiating with the government delegate, giving in to her demands, who in the end practically has to hand over almost all of the Carbonell family’s assets, including a pantheon in the cemetery, in exchange for obtaining the desired document. All this humorous part is very well handled by Osmel Poveda in the role of Carmelina. It is one of the best performances I have seen him working as a team, very convincing, intense and easygoing.
The dramatic comedy has the always regal first actor Jorge Ovies as Leonor, the Carbonells’ deceased mother, who throughout the play converses with her daughter Felicia, a role played successfully by the Argentine actor JJ Paris, who neutralizes her strong accent and plays a tired woman, fighting to survive every day in the midst of shortages, blackouts and acts of repudiation, sad episodes of physical violence and harassment against those who wanted to leave Cuba during Mariel.
The other Carbonell sister, Adelaida, a role played by actor Rai Prado, as Manoln’s mother, manages to convey the strength of the fighting mother determined to do everything for her son.
The Carbonells leave, one grows in the monologues of each of the women who add an overwhelming drama to their texts. As a whole, the story of the Carbonells is the narrative of a jaded people who see freedom in exile, at least individual freedom and the future. It is also a story of all emigrants anywhere in the world who are fleeing something. It is the theme of farewell, of leaving behind the past, the family and the fear of starting over. Director Juan Roca measures all of this very well.
This focus on emigration universalizes Cárdenas’s text, because all of us spectators in the room come from somewhere else or are descendants of others who arrived before.
The set by Ricardo Martínez sets a house on a second floor in the middle of Old Havana. The black and white squares on the slabs of the living room floor remind some of the audience of their homes there. The costumes reflect the daily dressing of a family, in a hot and suffocating environment. Juan Roca’s direction keeps the play in comedy at all times and takes it one step further.
Rai Prado’s character (Adelaida) summarizes the intensity of Se van las Carbonell in one sentence: when you leave Cuba, you have to leave without looking back.
Se van las Carbonell is presented on Saturdays at 8 pm, and Sundays at 5 pm, at the Trail Theater, 3715 SW 8 St., Miami, 33134. Reservations at (305) 443-1009.