Sotto Voce – Location, Tickets, Reviews
Sotto Voce, written and directed by Pulitzer Prize-winner Nilo Cruz (Anna in the Tropics), is a small sonata of a play about loneliness, loss, and the transformative power of love.
In the play, Bemadette is an aging fiction writer who lost the only man she ever loved during World War II. Her lover fled Nazi Germany on the S.S. St. Louis, a ship carrying Jewish refugees. The ship was denied entry by both Cuba and the U.S. and forced to return to Europe, where death camps awaited the refugees aboard.
Now an elder woman, Bemadette has lived for years isolated in a New York apartment with only her young maid, Lucila, as company. One day, a grad student from Havana, Saquiel, who is researching the tragic voyage of the S.S. St. Louis calls Bemadette to request an interview. She ignores him at first, but Saquiel slowly cracks her resolve, and together they embark on a journey through her memories. Bemadette never invites Saquiel into her apartment but the two correspond via email and on the phone, and develop a surprising romance, one that has parallels with her ill-fated love all those years ago.
Maxamoo
Sotto Voce feels like a missed opportunity. Cruz never establishes serious romantic stakes for his two leads. The twists and turns of their love story glide by too quickly, preventing serious contemplation of potentially interesting questions and obstacles. We never get the chance, for example, to consider how much of Saquiel’s love for Bemadette is based on his love of her writing. A complication involving Lucila (eagerly played by Arielle Jacobs) is introduced but never resolved. Strong parallels between Bemadette’s love for Saquiel and her heartache over her lost paramour are hardly discussed.
It’s unclear what Cruz’s interest is in this story because the obvious conflict between Bemadette’s past pain and present love is not mined for the value it, obviously, holds. We were left, bored and frustrated, hoping for more from this masterful playwright with a rare talent for images of romantic fantasy.
Public Opinion
Have you seen Sotto Voce? What did you think? Tweet us at @maxamoo.
Critics’ Reviews
New York Times
Romance Stirs on the Way Down Memory Lane
Blogcritics
“In Sotto Voce Nilo Cruz has created a sumptuous work of art, integrating poetic forms within the structure of the plot to fuel the dialogue and characterizations. “
OffOff Online
I Want to Speak with the Writer
TICKETS
$20.00 (click here for tickets)
DATES
Performances through March 9, 2014
LOCATION
Theater For The New City
155 1st Avenue
New York City
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RUNNING TIME
2 hours, 1 intermission
CAST & CREW
(partial list)
Written and Directed by Nilo Cruz
Featuring Franca Sofia Barchiesi, Arielle Jacobs & Andhy Mendez