August 19: Casa de Los Espiritus

Today we had another Tufts in Chile outing with our "cultural monitors," to see a live theatrical production of the Isabella Allende book "The House of the Spirits." The theater was in Parque Arauco, a gigantic upscale mall in Los Condes. If I thought going to the movies had a sense of non-place, then this was 10 times worse. While it was gorgeous with lights and palm trees, I felt like my sense of place had completely gone out the window since the restaurants, style of dress and probably even speaking were exactly the same as they would have been back home. The production itself was quite enjoyable, as it mixed in really cool effects with screens and lights that added an element of film to live theater. Since I'd read the book, I felt that a lot of characters were too one sided, but the general themes that Allende wanted to address-class, human rights and women's roles were equally, if not more salient. Most of the time, though, I just couldn't help being intrigued by the irony of watching the play's criticism of historical processes and time periods in a space filled with an audience that was a product of what was being criticized. Without the violence behind Pinochet's regime that was one of the main criticisms of the play, who knows if neoliberal economic policies would have been enacted, making way for the super-elite that filled the theater. In this way, I almost felt as if the audience and their reaction to the drama was incorporated into the show itself. It was pretty meta.