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FESTEN (La Celebración) |
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 Saturday
night, January 13, during my vacation in Mexico City, I had the chance to
see my favorite actor - Diego Luna - perform live on stage in
the theatre presentation of Festen. Not only that, but my
best friend (Cristi) and I had front row seats in the small,
intimate theatre. You're probably wondering why I didn't take
any pictures if I was that close. I wanted to, believe
me. Within the first 5 minutes Diego walked to our side of the
stage and crouched down right in front of us. He was wearing a
white shirt, a beige sport coat, blue jeans and some sort of
close toe sandals. I could just see his little toes showing
through. He was literally four or five feet away from us (1.5
meters) and he looked right at us. If I had pulled out a camera
(which they had already announced was NOT allowed), he would
have seen me. And I didn't want to be the one person in the
audience to offend or piss-off Diego Luna. (Would you?) Out of
respect for the actors, I refrained from taking photos. But oh,
how I wish that I could have! Diego was so close and ever so
handsome.Diego plays Christian Hansen, who has just arrived to his parents' grand house to celebrate his father's 60th birthday with family and friends. José María Yazpik plays his brother, Michael. There was no curtain. So at the start of the play the lights went out. When they came back on, Christian (Diego Luna) was seated in a chair staring intensely across the stage at a little girl. I didn't know it then, but I believe she was meant to represent Christian's dead twin sister (Linda), who committed suicide. Diego was outstanding, his character acting nervous and uncomfortable around his family. We could clearly hear Diego's sighs of exasperation and breathing. When he spoke passionately (yelling) we could see a spray of spit when he talked. (I may have been showered with Diego Luna spittle. Don't know for sure. But I'm not complaining.) When his brother Michael shows up and greats Christian with a slap on the back and a big squeeze, it's obvious that Christian is not in the mood and is greatly disturbed by something. In this early scene, Diego kept pulling a flask out of his pants and drinking, as to calm his nerves. Christian has the same cool reaction upon reuniting with his older sister, Helen, and his mother. But when he greets his father, his face lights up and he embraces his dad tightly, yet hesitantly. Soon one of the maids in the house, Pia, greets Christian. It's obvious that they like each other and may have had a relationship in the past. It was about this time that I noticed a bulge in the front of Diego's pants. I thought... well, I won't tell you what I thought... (but you know). Eventually Diego pulled a key with a huge bulky key chain attached to it, from his pants and gave it to Pia, who in turn later meet Christian in his room wearing only her bra and panties. Christian is too preoccupied for her advances, as he prepares himself for what he must do later in the evening. Pia, in an effort to get Christian's attention, takes off her bra. But Christian is still not phased. There are times during the play where Diego's eyes nearly well up with tears as he displays anguish and torment, and wringing his hands. Eventually, family and friends come together at a dinner table. Wonderful things are spoken about the father, as it's his birthday. When the wine is poured, Christian begins to imbibe profusely. He drinks his wine and then the wine of the old man sitting next to him. In fact, he drinks anything and everything he can get his hands on. He then taps his knife on his wine glass to get the groups attention. (The taping of the wine glass is done all through the play, mostly by Diego's character so that he can have the floor to speak.) Christian stands up and tells his father that he has written two different speeches. One on yellow paper, the other on green. He asks his father to choose one. His dad chooses yellow, but at the last minute changes to green. Smiling ever so slightly, Christian unfolds the green paper and reads the speech which begins praising his father and reminiscing of the family's good times. This is one of the few times in the play that Diego's character doesn't look like he's going to cry or have a mental breakdown. His face lights up with a huge smile and he laughs with the group while he's reading his speech. But then the it takes a turn. Diego's face is serious as he reads about the time his father sexually abused him and his twin sister Linda when they were children. When he finishes, there is total silence. Christian has said what has been weighing on his heart since he was a boy, and nobody at the table wants to acknowledges it. Rather, they change the subject and continue along with the celebration, as if nothing happened. Some time later Christian picks up his knife and taps his wine glass again. He stands and apologizes for what he'd previously said. He adds that he meant to include the part where his own mother once walked in on his father with his pants down, bent over he (Christian) and his sister. When his father screamed at her to get out, she shut the door and never spoke a word. The look of hatred on Christian's face towards his mother is intense. Diego's nostrils were flaring. The party continues with everyone ignoring Christian. He's gotten so drunk that he is lying on his back in front of the table, rolling around on the floor and grabbing people's legs under the table and laughing. When he does return to his seat, Diego climbs under the table, back into his chair, and starts eating spaghetti with his fingers. The meal continues, with various friends standing to give their warm wishes and praise to the farther. When Christian stands again to address the group about the family's dark secret, an argument breaks out, as his brother Michael simply does not believe Christian's story and shouts at him to stop. He thinks Christian is mad. To deter from the hostile situation, Michael's wife stands up and starts singing. Everyone stops and stares at her, except for Christian who is laughing out loud at the craziness of the entire situation. He can't believe she's singing. Will no one listen to him??? At one point his mother tells the group what a vivid imagination Christian had ever since he was a child. She tells them about his make-believe friend Snoot, and discredits her son further. Michael and a family friend drag Christian away kicking and screaming. The meal continues with Diego running back on stage and round and round the table as the other two men chase him. Thank God for Diego's sticky shoes (which we could hear sticking to the stage floor when he walked) because he was running full speed and I thought he might fall off stage into our laps. Unfortunately that didn't happen. He's perfected his stage running to a tee. When Michael and the family friend catch Christian for the third time, they take him outside and beat him up. At one point Michael kicked Christian, who was lying face down on the ground, in the butt. ( I though Diego took it well, since it wasn't just a light tap, but a full on kick.) But Diego's character soon made up for it by spitting in Michael's face at close range. They tie Christian up and leave him. Christian eventually unties himself and shows up in the house again. At this point, Diego ran out on stage with blood dripping from his mouth and with his dress shirt ripped wide open. There he stood right in front of us, fake blood, chest hair and all. When he turned at an angle would could see his nipples. (I think I may have fainted, but I revived quickly.) Soon the older sister (Helen) reads the suicide note that she found that was written by the younger sister (Christian's twin, Linda). Diego's character limps across stage and sits down with expressions of pain on his face while Helen reads the note aloud to the group, who are at the dinner table AGAIN. It's addressed to Christian. And in the letter Linda expresses that she is going to take her own life because she still dreams that their father still "has her" (sexually) in her dreams. She cannot take it anymore, and is sorry to leave Christian behind. After this letter is read, everyone realizes that Christian is not crazy. That he has been speaking the truth. Michael then turns on his father and starts beating him up, angered at the fact that his younger siblings had been abused. Christian, however, stops Michael and helps his father up. The last scene is the following morning, at the breakfast table with family and friends. Diego came out on stage dressed in a long sleeve dark blue shirt and black slacks, and looking much less tormented than the day before. The father and mother come to the table last and sit down last. Christian is seated next to his father, and he looks at this father with disgust, as if thinking, "How the hell can you calmly come sit next to me at the breakfast table after last night?!!" Michael's young daughter runs to her grandpa's lap so he can read her a story. Seeing this, Michael calls his daughter back over to him and tells his father that it is not appropriate for him to be at the table and to leave. The father motions to his wife to leave with him. She, however, remains seated and tells him that she is staying. Diego's character has a look of surprise at his mother, as she's finally decided to acknowledge her husband's misbehavior. It's rather bitter sweet. Too little, too late. The highlight, if there is one, of the play is that Christian seems satisfied with completing his mission. When Pia the maid comes to the table, he asks her to move to Paris with him and she says yes. Christian has faced his demons and survived. When the play was over, the actors lined up in front of the stage and bowed. Diego walked forward with the two actors who played his siblings, Michael and Helene, and the applause grew the loudest. The three of them stepped back, and the actors who played the mother and father took a bow. Diego held his left arm out as they bowed out of respect for them and looked so serious. They all left the stage, but all the actors soon returned, lined up in a row. Diego was somewhere in the middle, and they all took bows together. Afterwards we waited outside the venue and saw five of the actors come out in their street clothes and leave. About 20 minutes later, we moved closer to the street to wait for our taxi. We did see someone come out and pose quickly for a photo and take off around the back of the building. I can't be sure it was Diego, but I think it may have been because three young girls took off running in that direction. Meeting him would have been fantastic. I won't lie. But the play, Diego and ALL the actors, were brilliant. It was definitely something to Festen (celebrate)! |