El Nogalar

I want to start off by saying that I absolutely loved this play and I can’t wait to see it performed on campus this semester. No offense to Chekhov, but I may like this play even better than The Cherry Orchard. The adaptation that Tanya Saracho has written is so incredibly refreshing. It is remains a talk-y play but the updated and modified Spanglish language is fresh. The drug-war ridden Mexico is a far cry from 19^th century Russia. Maite, Saracho’s answer to Ranevsky is bold, firery, and beautiful. The actresses playing her are often not much older than those playing her daughters. She is a total force of nature that seems to be the center of the play. El Nogalar seems to have become a sexier, more passionate version of The Cherry  Orchard. The bold choice of the playwrite to make Maite and Lopez’s relationship much more sexual than Ranevsky and Lopahkin’s ever was is interesting. Although the characters still refuse to actually do anything about their problems, these characters feel like what Chekhov’s would be life with more life pumped into them.

I think El Nogalar is sultry and charismatic with vibrant characters. The characters are feisty and have much bigger personalities that the characters in The Cherry Orchard. The play is a fresh, modern take on a historic piece of theatre.