Under a Mantle of Stars Is Intricate, Complex, Ambiguous

Under a Mantle of Stars

by Manuel Puig

directed by Jose Zayas

at the Loeb Experimental Theater

through August 5

It has often been said that lightning never strikes twice.

But Manuel Puig, author of the play Under a Mantle of Stars, chose not to live this credo.

Lightning strikes many times in this ambiguous production, which combines a love triangle, murder and ghosts of the past to weave an intricate, complex plot that keeps the audience guessing.

All of the action of the play takes place in Argentina in 1948, but the first important event of the play occurs back in 1929. A married couple is travelling to visit their best friends when they die in a car crash.

Their daughter, known simply as daughter (Tanya Krohn),is adopted by her parents' friends, the Master and Mistress of the House (Alex Haseltine and Jill Weitzner), and life goes on-until the fateful events of 1948.

That year, two jewel thieves, Visitor and Lady Visitor, (Ben Toro-Hernandez and Dana Gotlieb) come calling on our couple disguised in the garb of 1929 and exactly resembling the deceased couple. Suddenly, out scream the ghosts of the past.

It turns out that the Mistress of the House was having an affair with the deceased man, and Visitor also resembles the fiance of the surviving daughter, who has just called off their marriage. Upon the arrival of this look-alike, the Daughter and the MIstress of the House find their passions rekindled.

The women effectively convey their desires for Visitor. The Mistress of the House is shaken from the doldrums of an uninspiring marriage and comes on strong to Visitor, whom she believes has come back for her and will take her off to an exciting romantic future.

Krohn,, as Daughter, is the younger of the two women, and her portrayal of this character makes this distinction clear. Unlike the brash, uninhibited character of Weitzner, Krohn is bashful, shy, and confused as the Visitor appears to come back into her life.

Toro-Hernandez has what appears to be the most enviable role in the play--he's got two women completely smitten with him. He plays it extremely well, tailoring his demeanor to the different styles of attraction presented by the two women.

His character is confused because the two women bombard him with images from the past about which his character knows nothing. He must play along, however, as he doesn't want to be found out as a jewel thief.

He makes his confusion very clear, rolling his eyes at some of the references to the past. His voice just hints at his perplexed state, leaving his would-be lovers convinced their Don Juan has returned. Only he and the audience know better.

One of the best scenes of the play occurs when Toro-Hernandez and Krohn seduce each other with words of passion and affection. Krohn portrays her character, who is about to lose her virginity to this man, as hopelessly in love and yet scared and naive.

Gotlieb, the female half of the jewel-stealing duo, is also strong in her role. She plays her character well, conveying the sense of power she feels. This attitude is especially apparent in the scene in which she responds the daughter's blind admiration for her partner.

In another scene, she informs Haseltine that his wife is cuckolding him and his daughter is leaving his grasp in a way that clearly conveys her sense of power.

Haseltine, husband of Weitzner, plays his character in a complex fashion--the audience can't really tell whether he's a pawn of pulling the strings of all strings of all the action.

One minute, you think he's being cuckolded by his wife and abandoned by his daughter. But at the end of the play, Haseltine's character has it all--the robbers are gone and the wife has returned to his side. Too bad his daughter gets taken away to a mental institution. Haseltine effectively maintains the intrigue that is vital to the success of the play.

Another of the details that adds to the play is the style in which it is written. It resembles a radio serial show of the 1930s and 1940s. The same lines are repeated often by different characters, and pretty soon the order in which the lines were said is mixed up by the audience, smearing the time line of the action.

Finally, the set and costumes bring the audience back to Argentina in 1948. The outrageous mustache worn as a disguise by Toro-Hernandez is appropriate to the genre.

The set is sapcious, keeping the focus on the action. Nevertheless, it gives the feel of an upper-middle class home.

Let's just say that like the plays as whole, the conclusion is ambiguous, Indeed, it lives up to the thick plot, which fills the audience's evening with twists and turns.