‘Islands’ offers six hours revulsion, not ‘revolution’

‘Islands’ offers six hours revulsion, not ‘revolution’

Six-hour play seems more like fluff than social commentary

By Jennifer Richmond

Daily Bruin Staff

"Revolution creates hell for all the people involved," Osvaldo
(Shawn Elliott) says of the torment he’s endured throughout his
life.

After a lifetime of struggle and suffering, the Ripoll family
has become a group of lost souls. But it’s the audience who, after
six hours, gets lost in the chaotic hell of Eduardo Machado’s
"Floating Islands."

"Islands" follows Manuela and her family through the 52 years of
revolution that rule her life. But the play gets lost in its story
and becomes a warped soap opera rather than a commentary on life in
the midst of social crisis.

In the first part, "The Family Business," Manuela (Marissa
Chibas) is a girl with different ideas ­ a separate island
within her family. Although she follows tradition closely, there’s
a part of her that’s longing to break free and become the woman she
dreams about. Rebelling against customs by cutting her hair into a
short bob is only the first step of her metamorphosis.

Manuela then falls for Oscar Hernandez (Joe Urla), a taxi driver
of whom her parents don’t approve ­ at first. He, too, has a
lust for power that’s burning inside him. His dream comes in the
form of a bus company he opens with Manuela’s family.

It’s clear from his speeches and enthusiastic visions that Oscar
is a man of power, a man who will stop at nothing to make his
visions into realities. This is the man who, together with his new
wife, will begin a revolution within this traditional family by
isolating himself, his new wife and his work from them.

Thirty-two years and several busses later, a new government has
taken over Cuba and the family is in danger of losing its business,
wealth and each other.

This 32-year jump causes havoc in Machado’s story. The sudden
change that occurs in both Manuela (now Alma Cuervo) and Oscar (now
Victor Argo) is surprising and unprecedented. There’s no reason
behind Machado’s sudden switch in his characters’ personalities.
He’s become lost in over-dramatizing the production rather than
allowing the story to follow its natural path.

Manuela is now in charge of both the business and her family.
When Manuela talks of the busses as her "reason" for life, it
becomes clear who’s in charge and what’s important. Where Oscar was
the one in charge in the first act, it’s now evident he’s simply
another rung on the ladder towards Manuela’s success. Family has
become a runner-up in her race for power. Unfortunately, this is
only the start of the confusion.

When the loss of the family’s business and power becomes the
focus of the second part of "Islands," the production becomes a
garbled mess of lines, relationships and power struggles ­ the
makings of a perfect soap opera.

The Cuban revolution and its effect on the Ripoll family is now
the central theme. But, if the words "revolution" and "Fidel
Castro" weren’t repeated over and over, this theme would never be
understood.

The plot also gets lost in the incestuous relationship of Pedro
(Yul Vazquez) and Osvaldo (Joe Urla), as well as Cusa’s (Rosana De
Soto) faith in Castro vs. Oscar and Manuela’s detest for him, the
drug addictions within the family and the family’s obsessive
relationships once they reach Woodland Hills. While each of these
scenes adds to the intensity of the production and the theme of
revolution, some of them feel as if they were added only for shock
value.

The surprising relationship between Manuela’s sons-in-law is
without question a mini-revolution in itself. Pedro has always had
a special bond with his brother, he loves and trusts him so much
that he once even told his wife of their sexual affairs. When their
sister Miriam (Wanda De Jesús) discovers the two together,
she’s convinced by Pedro to participate. Her involvement keeps her
quiet, for if she denounces them, she’ll be discovered. Then, just
like the martyrs within the revolution occurring around them,
someone’s bound to get hurt.

While this parallel is important, it gets lost in the melodrama
ruling the second half of the production. Only through the
redundant lines and actions is the comparison between the interior
and exterior revolutions realized. These situations ­
homosexual incest, suicide and the shallow struggle for power
­ leave the audience wondering what the point is while trying
to catch their breath between each shocking scene.

By the end of "Islands," not only have the characters isolated
themselves from each other through drugs, sex, alcohol, greed and
corruption, they’ve also isolated the audience through the
melodrama of it all.

STAGE: "Floating Islands." Written by Eduardo Machado. Directed
by Oskar Eustis. Running through Dec. 11 at the Mark Taper Forum.
TIX: $28- 35.50 for each part or $56-71 for both. Public rush: 10
minutes before curtain tickets are $10. For more info call (213)
365-3500.