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The Defiant Muse
By Nicholas A. Patricca
Directed by Andrea J. Dymond
At Victory Gardens Biograph Theater
2433 N. Lincoln Ave.
Chicago, IL
Call 773-871-3000, tickets $20 -$45
Tuesdays thru Thursdays at 7:30 pm
Fridays at 8 pm
Saturdays at 5 & 8:30 pm
Sundays at 3 pm
Special Wednesday matinees at 2 pm Oct. 17 & 24
Running time is 2 hours, 40 minutes with intermission
Through October 28, 2007
“Each person has to create his or her own humanity.” –Sor Juana
Stellar theatricality delights in Baroque Theater’s The Defiant Muse at Victory Garden’s Biograph Theater
In the finest show to date in the new Victory Gardens Biograph venue, The Defiant Muse is a stirring dramatization of the life of Mexico’s most celebrated writer—Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz (1649-1695). Set upon the stunning tan columned baroque styles set (design by Keith Pitts), director Andrea J. Dymond uses a most thrilling theatricality to breath life into the 17th feminist hero: Sor Juana. Using ambitious devices such as a play-within-a-play and La Destreza swordplay with the rapier as metaphor, The Defiant Muse is a polished, stylized epic filled with colorful characters, universal themes with a vivid and complling hero, Sor Juana (Lisa Tejero) and her alter-ego Don Juan (Dan Kenney).
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We witness Sor Juana, played with controlled emotions and in an understated command of her character by Lisa Tejero. She gave a true tour de force performance as the writer, scholar, poet, feminist, nun and revolutionary. Tejero commands the stage with her intense and sincere portrayal of the gifted and determined scholar. The swordplay (designed by fight choreographer Nick Sandys) was effectively used as both a duel of rapiers and a duel of ideas between Sor Juana and her imaginary alter-ego, Don Juan. Dan Kenney plays Don Juan as a likable nobleman equally adept at bedding the ladies and sword play. He is a proponent of the Spanish Code of Honor. He is the voice in Sor Juana’s head telling her the things she needs to hear.
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This story covers Sor Juana’s love affair with the Vicereine Lisi (Dawn Alden), her self-imposed banishment into a nunnery as well as her writing and studying of poetry and science, particularly astronomy. We see Sor Juana struggle with finding harmony between science and faith; with religion and reason; church and state; men and women and rich and poor. Her Baroque philosophy tried to balance the old beliefs with the new discoveries of the time. The Inquisition, ignorance and bias against women were her worst enemies. Playwright Nicholas A. Patricca cleverly weaves Sor Juana’s beliefs in a script that is intelligent and stage worthy.
Her play (within the play) about Don Juan became a clever and dramatic device for her to make the often contradictory journey of self-discovery in her obsessive quest for self knowledge. Her lifelong struggle for personal identity follows her fate as she is determined to add to the knowledge base of humanity.
We see her as a revolutionary feminist centuries ahead of her time. She is aided and ultimately betrayed by her bishop and her confessor who fears her independence and intelligence. Victory Gardens’ production is slick, highly theatrical and vividly presented (with Judith Lundberg’s terrific 17th Century costume design) and Charles Cooper’s lighting design.
Dawn Alden’s Lisi, Kenn E. Head’s dark villain Father Nunez and Raoul Johnson’s Don Pedro with Joseph Anthony Foronda’s servant and Desmin Borges’ Fernandez offered excellent supporting work. Dan Kenney’s swashbuckling Don Juan contained heart and wisdom. But the fantastic, charismatic work of Lisa Tejero gives Sor Juana a humanity and heart in one of the most truthful performances seen on a Chicago stage in many a moon. The quiet dignity, strength of personality, and compassion exuded from Lisa Tejero. Kudos to her for making Sor Juana a character we’ll not soon forget. The Defiant Muse is one of the best plays of 2007.
Highly Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: October 1, 2007
Jeff Recommended
Review by Randy Hardwick
The Defiant Muse is Divine
Victory Gardens’ The Defiant Muse, now in its world premiere at The Biograph Theatre, is a play of uncommon power that recounts the story of a most uncommon human being, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz. Sor Juana, generally known as Mexico’s finest writer and often credited as the world’s original feminist, was a philosopher and an accomplished scholar with a fine scientific mind. In director Andrea J. Dymond’s astounding production Lisa Tejero brings the brilliant nun to life, revealing her to be a revolutionary and a hero in the classical sense of the word as well.
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The vehicle for this revelation is the playwright’s invention of an alter ego for Sor Juana in the form of the literary figure Don Juan. When I first read the press release about the play, I was a bit put off by the intrusion of this fiction into the telling of such an incredible real life figure. Having now seen the play, I must admit that it was a stroke of genius that serves to make Sor Juana more real and accessible as a human figure. When one is presented with a personage of such extraordinary genius and saintly compassion as Sor Juana, it is difficult to make a believable character of her. Don Juan provides the anchor that adds coherence and constancy to the telling of Sor Juana’s life. Her bravery in the defense of the dignity of women and the human spirit in general becomes an artistic tour de force as counter point to the dashing Don Juan (Dan Kenney) in a dueling dance of thrust and parry, lunge and retreat, that symbolizes the struggle to find identity in the duel of life. There is little wonder that this play received top honors in the 2006 Alexander S. Onasis Foudation’s international playwriting competition. It is a beautifully constructed play with humor, a bit of romance, and language that at times could evoke the envy of the Bard himself.
There are solid performances throughout the veteran cast. Dawn Alden is charming as Lisi, the viceroy’s wife and Sor Juana’s lover (secret lover, naturally – the Inquisition is on life support, but not yet thoroughly dead), Joseph Anthony Foronda delivers some key laughs as Don Juan’s Sancho-Panza-like sidekick and Kenn E. Head drips evil as Sor Juana’s antagonist, the politically savvy priest, Nuņez. Not only is this a great play with a superb cast, but set designer Keith Pitts and costume designer Judith Lundberg splendidly recreate the baroque opulence of the court and the church of 17th-century Mexico. And, of course, there is the duel. You have to love a show with a swordfight. Even if the publicity for the show overstates the case – and it does – swords always add a bit of spice to a production.
If you don’t know the story of Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz or much about the history of Mexico, you can Google up a bit of background before you head to the theatre, but it’s not necessary. The Defiant Muse provides everything you need and satisfies Sor Juana novices and Sor Juana experts equally. If this is new subject matter for you, I guarantee that you will want to know more once you leave the theatre. The language, while poetic and baroque in nature, is in no way difficult to approach, so don’t let anything stop you from seeing this show. The Defiant Muse is Divine.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
randyontheglobe@yahoo.com for comments
Date Reviewed: October 1, 2007
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