Tanika Gupta’s adaptation of Pedro Calderón’s Golden Age play, Amar Después de la Muerte, playing at the Old Vic, tells the epic story based on the Battle of Las Alpujarras, and the expulsion of the moriscos out of Andalucía.
Synopsis
Act 1 begins in Granada with a noble Morisco elder, Malec, informing the rest of community of the new anti-Morisco laws published by King Phillip II. Malec’s daughter, Clara, declares that she wants revenge following the disrespect and dishonour afflicted on her father by Don Juan de Mendoza, an Old Christian. Álvaro Tuzaní, who is in love with Clara, offers his hand in marriage and in her revenge – both of which she rejects, not wanting to perpetuate the tarnished honour of her family into her marriage. Later, Tuzaní goes to find Mendoza himself, who is imprisoned in the Alhambra, Granada’s fortress, for his offense toward Malec. After a heated squabble between the two, the act ends with Tuzaní declaring plans for revenge against the Christians.
The second act transports us to the mountains of the Alpujarra, three years later. Now, Islam has been imposed upon the region by the new Morisco King, Abenhumeya, with the rest of the morisco characters having Arabized their names. On the other side, the Christians are discussing their best strategy for their attack. Garcés, Mendoza’s left-hand man is led by Alcuzcuz, a member of the morisco community, to a secret entrance into the Morisco camp in exchange for his life. Instead, Alcuzcuz tricks Garcés and leaves him stranded without his food or wine. The act ends with Clara, now Maleca and Tuzaní’s secret meeting in Galera where they exchange their last words of love before Tuzaní is forced to return to Berja to fight.
In our final Act then, which begins on the following day, Tuzaní has returned to Galera and is met by explosions and detonations of Christian arsenic. With defences down, the Spanish army storms Galera and Tuzaní finds that his lover and her father are fatally wounded. Alcuzcuz and Tuzaní, heavy with sorrow, disguise themselves as Christians and vow to kill her murderer.
Gupta’s production, although less archaic and more modern, maintains Calderón’s tragic element, displaying with mesmerising captivity, Calderón’s ability to transform these historic events into a shocking drama of love, honour, infamy and revenge. It is a drama recognised for its bursts of vivid poetry, for the empathy used in its representation of the Moriscos, for its indignation and for its ability to manipulate the audience’s emotions and make the most of the play’s poignancy. Gupta works to keep the play anchored in this historical context, choosing to let the iconic characterization of Calderón speak for itself in hopes that her audience will be transported back in time, whilst understanding that it is not so far away from the world outside of the theatre – still dealing with seemingly dated issues surrounding class, race and gender wars.