The House Of Ramon Iglesia is the first play written by José Rivera, whose work is seldom performed in Australia. Director Anthony Skuse sensitively untangles the financial and emotional problems seeping out of a migrant Puerto Rican family living in Long Island. This MopHead production staged at the Old Fitz Theatre – which seems to be putting on an unofficial season of early ’80s American plays – is a tight ensemble piece and full of solid performances.
On a raised platform, the stage is furnished with a sparse kitchen, a too-small table crowded with chairs and a small religious shrine in the corner. Carefully tending to the latter is mother Delores (Deborah Galanos), who speaks limited English. She is full of Catholic superstition and craves her homeland. Her husband Ramon (Nicholas Papademetriou) is a high school janitor, crippled by debt and alcoholism. As anguished and somewhat naive parents, Galanos and Papademetriou bind the play together.
Much of the family friction stems from the college-educated son Javier (Stephen Multari), who is sifting between obligation and loyalty. Having outgrown his brazen blue-collar girlfriend, Caroline (Eloise Snape), he is a political science graduate eager to bury his ethnic heritage and climb to further intellectual heights. Second son Julio or ‘The Beast’ (Christian Charisiou) is macho, self-assured and about to join the Marines. And the youngest son, Charlie (David Soncin) – or Carlos, as he insists on being called – is seduced by his parents’ nostalgic accounts of Puerto Rico.
In order to sell the house and move back to Puerto Rico, the Iglesia family must prove they own it. Negotiating with a prickly Italian neighbour (Ronny Jon Paul Mouawad), whether they will leave or remain living in the deteriorating house is uncertain.
The set design by Georgia Hopkins is restrained. Occasional flecks of snow rain down, a reminder of poverty in the midst of a New York winter. Although the kitchen is stripped back, it is functional. The actors actually brew coffee and the like. The audience, like the characters, becomes immersed in domestic ritual as complexities unfold outside and around it. Although there are no real surprises, this is a tender portrait of a family, picking up the pieces of a shattered American dream.
3/5 stars
The House Of Ramon Iglesia is playing at the Old Fitz Theatre until Saturday June 6.
