History lionizes those who stick their necks out for the greater good.
From Oskar Schindler, who saved Jews from Second World War gas chambers, to the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93, who died while trying to regain control of a plane hijacked by terrorists, we admire people who put the collective welfare above personal peril.
A similar story of heroism played out in 1476 in a Spanish village and is the subject of the season-opening play by second-year Red Deer College Theatre Studies students.
Fuente Ovejuna was written in 1619 by Lope de Vega, who many regard as Spain’s more prolific version of Shakespeare. De Vega’s drama is based on an actual historical incident that took place just after a civil war in 1476 in the village of Fuenteovejuna — now called Fuente Obejuna — in Castile.
The rural community, named for a well from which sheep drink, was under the control of a sadistic military commander, Fernán Gómez de Guzmán. He brutalized the villagers to such an extent that the peasants banded together and killed him.
When a magistrate was sent to investigate the murder by King Ferdinand, all 300 villagers — even under pain of torture — refused to reveal exactly who committed the deed.
They responded only by saying “Fuenteovejuna did it.”
“It’s a case of the little people standing up to the establishment,” said the play’s director, RDC Theatre Studies instructor Jeff Page, who believes this production, which opens on Thursday in Studio A of the Red Deer College Arts Centre, sets a precedent for all sorts of vigilante stories that have since played out on the big screen.
“This is almost like the first Dirty Harry movie,” he added with a laugh.
The play, translated into modern English by Canadian Richard Sanger, begins with the wedding of Laurencia and Frondoso. Before the young couple can exchange vows, the ceremony is crashed by de Guzmán, who carries off the bride to force himself on her.
When Frondoso objects to the rape of his fiancé, the evil commander has him tortured.
Laurencia later rallies the villagers to action, said Page, who admitted a challenge was figuring out how to depict violence so that it resonates, without seeming like too much gore or overkill.
“It will be OK,” he determined, since most of the torture takes place off stage.
In preparing for their roles, Page’s young students had to learn about what it was like to be a peasant in medieval Spain. Most importantly, they had to understand what it means to be truly powerless. “Students these days have a lot of power and influence and access to various institutions,” said Page.
“They needed to realize that saying what you think has not always been taken for granted. There have been limitations on freedom of speech” — and personal freedom, period.
Because Fuente Ovejuna is told partly in flashback, he said this story of female empowerment retains suspense — for instance, audience members must wait to see what happens to the villagers for their crime.
Like the movies Kill Bill (Vol. 1 and 2) and Death Wish, Page believes the vigilante tale satisfies on a visceral level: the victims get their revenge and the bad guy gets his just desserts.
Fuente Ovejuna runs from Oct. 13 to 22 in Studio A of the Red Deer College Arts Centre. Tickets to the 7:30 p.m. shows (1 p.m. matinees on Oct. 15 and 22) are $20.20 ($16.20 students/seniors) from Black Knight Ticket Centre.
lmichelin@www.reddeeradvocate.com
— copyright Red Deer Advocate