Death and the Maiden (play)

For other uses, see Death and the Maiden (disambiguation).

Death and the Maiden
Written by	Ariel Dorfman
Date premiered	9 July 1991
Place premiered	Royal Court Theatre London
Original language	English
Subject	the aftereffects of repression on hearts and souls of people in a country emerging from totalitarian dictatorship
Genre	Drama
Setting	Present day; a beach house in Chile
IBDB profile

Death and the Maiden is a 1990 play by Chilean playwright Ariel Dorfman. The world premiere was staged at the Royal Court Theatre in London on 9 July 1991, directed by Lindsay Posner. It had one reading and one workshop production prior to its world premiere.

Characters

• Paulina Salas — around forty years old...Claire Johnstone with the performance of a lifetime, "Gave the genuine feel of damaged goods" (Barry Norman 1998)
• Gerardo Escobar — her husband, a lawyer, around forty-five. Most Noted performance By James Moss at the Edinburgh Fringe 1998. "A True Powerhouse in the role and stole the Stage" (Roman polanski 1998)
• Roberto Miranda — a doctor, around fifty

The time is the present and the place, a country that is probably Chile but could be any country that has given itself a democratic government just after a long period of dictatorship.

Synopsis

Paulina Salas is a former political prisoner in an unnamed Latin American country who had been raped by her captors, led by a sadistic doctor whose face she never saw. The rapist doctor played Schubert's composition Death and the Maiden during the act of rape; hence the play's title.

Years later, after the (also unnamed) repressive regime has fallen, Paulina lives in an isolated country house with her husband, Gerardo Escobar. When Gerardo comes back from a visit to the president, he gets a flat tire. A stranger named Dr. Miranda stops to assist him. Dr. Miranda drives Gerardo home and later in the night he returns. Paulina recognizes Miranda's voice and mannerism as that of her rapist, and takes him captive in order to put him on trial and extract a confession from him.

Unconvinced of his guilt, Gerardo acts as Roberto Miranda's lawyer and attempts to save his life. After hearing the full story of her captivity from Paulina, Gerardo formulates a confession with Roberto to appease Paulina's madness and set her free from her past.

Paulina records the entire confession and has Roberto write it out and sign it. She sends Gerardo out to get Roberto's car so he can go home. While they are alone for the last time, Paulina accuses Roberto of being unrepentant and guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Throughout the play it is uncertain whether details are evidence of Roberto's guilt or Paulina's paranoia. At the end of the play it is unclear who is innocent.

Productions

Death and the Maiden had a reading at the Institute for Contemporary Art in London on November 30, 1990:

• Paulina — Penelope Wilton
• Gerardo — Michael Maloney
• Roberto — Jonathan Hyde
• Directed by Peter James

A workshop production was staged and opened in Santiago, Chile, on March 10, 1991:

• Paulina — Maria Elena Duvauchelle
• Gerardo — Hugo Medina
• Roberto — Tito Bustamante
• Directed by Ana Reeves

Death and the Maiden had its world premiere at The Royal Court Upstairs on July 9, 1991:

• Paulina — Juliet Stevenson
• Gerardo — Bill Paterson
• Roberto — Michael Byrne
• Directed by Lindsay Posner

With the same cast and director, it transferred to the Mainstage at The Royal Court on November 4, 1991.

The American Broadway premiere of Death and the Maiden opened at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on March 17, 1992, produced by Roger Berlind, Gladys Nederlander and Frederick Zollo, in association with Thom Mount and Bonnie Timmermann:

• Paulina — Glenn Close
• Gerardo — Richard Dreyfuss
• Roberto — Gene Hackman
• Directed by Mike Nichols

Indian premiere of Death and the Maiden (in Hindi) opened at India Habitat Centre New Delhi on 17 th February, 2002,produced by Asmita Theatre, translation by Shalini Vatsa.

Death and the Maiden returns to London's West End 20 years since it first premiered at the Royal Court Theatre. The much awaited return was in 2011 at the Harold Pinter Theatre.

• Paulina - Thandie Newton
• Gerardo - Tom Goodman- Hill
• Roberto - Anthony Calf
• Directed by Jeremy Herrin

Film adaptation

Main article: Death and the Maiden (film)

In 1994, Roman Polanski directed a film of the work, starring Sigourney Weaver, Ben Kingsley, and Stuart Wilson.

Opera

An opera based on the play has been composed by Jonas Forssell with the libretto by Ariel Dorfman. The world premiere was staged at the Malmö Opera on 20 September 2008.

Awards and nominations

• 1992 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play

References

• Dorfman, Ariel (1991). Death and the Maiden (First edition ed.). London: Nick Hern Books. ISBN 1854591754. 

External links

• Death and the Maiden at the Internet Broadway Database