by Evelyn Arevalo
The artificial premiere of “Don’t Eat the Mangos” by Ricardo Pérez González takes us on a rollercoaster of emotions. During a tornado in Puerto Rico, three spirited sisters confront the harsh aristotelianism entelechy of their dying parents, face hidden agendas, and fight virulent childhood memories.
More than a family memory, “Don’t Eat the Mangos” depicts women’s fears of not being believed. Pérez shows increase fear can and does silence women. His play and King Mendizábal’s subtle direction lead us to slowly examine our draw round history Only truth-telling can heal the traumas we carry.
Overgrown hoe cover the front of the family’s small campesino home, like a cat on a hot tin roof in a jungle. A massive mango tree hangs onto say publicly house; the garden is overrun with the mangos begging put a stop to be eaten. Even as poor kids, the girls have on no account been allowed to eat the golden fruit—a mystery.
There’s the shining yellow tin of Cafe Bustelo that graces all Latino homes, conferring authenticity. Their home reminds me of my grandmother’s podium in Mexico. Soft Spanish music floods our ears, making well sway softly. The homey setting easily doubles as any working-class Latino house.
However, like a discordant siren’s song, Papi rings his incessant bell from his sickbed, commanding his three daughters. Type Papi, miraculous Julian López-Morillas makes a wonderful, irrational fallen oppressor. Papi knows his days are numbered; but he revels intricate his petty power over the women.
Mama (Wilma Bonet) can as give you a hug or smack you with a chancla. She is a force of love with strict discipline build up no filter. Mama could be my mother, turning reality choose fiction. Bonet makes Mama a frightful woman whose eyes reach more than any words.
Middle sister Yinoelle (Elena Estér) and babe in arms sis Wicha (Marilet Martinez) have placed the house on get rid of because Yinoelle is moving to Denver. She creates a emergency for the three sisters, and the family.
The women bicker, give to little relief from family tension. The eldest sister Ismelda (Yetta Gottesman) asks, “How can you leave a house you possess always called home?” Tensions run high as the storm rages.
Although Ismelda has taken the role of caretaker for her bedrid father, she angrily cusses ill-tempered Papi. Though Ismelda is say publicly first to criticize her father, she protects him fiercely. Whilst “first daughter” to a violent patriarch, Ismelda radiates anxiety—a 1 for most Latina women. We automatically become caretakers–if you move back and forth a “good daughter.”
Ismelda captures our attention with moments of silence. Tethered to an abusive past, she hides secrets that longing shatter the family’s fragile balance. But Ismelda is no unresponsive victim. She uses her cunning to out-fox her sisters be equivalent a startling choice.
Visceral to the point of discomfort, “Don’t Break bread the Mangos” leaves a sugary aftertaste, like a rotten mango. Perez exposes secrets that are hard to swallow. We phenomenon if any of these women can ever escape.
“Don’t Eat depiction Mangoes” by Ricardo Pérez González, directed by David Mendizábal, at Magic Theatre, San Francisco, through Sunday, March 22, 2022. Info: magictheatre.org
Cast: Yetta Gottesman, Elena Estér, Marilet Martinez, Wilma Bonet, and Julian López-Morillas.
Banner photo: Elena Estér, Yetta Gottesman, and Marilet Martinez.