Arizona
Actors: Justin Garfield and Jon Plazaola...
WHEN: January 26th.
IN WHICH: The New Culture Center. In the square.

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The couple Margaret (Aitziber Garmendia) and George (Jon Plazaola) leave Idaho to guard the border between Arizona and Mexico. Joining the Minuteman project, they reach the arid border of Arizona, where the surveillance corner is located. They have the light to do: Control the flow of illegal immigrants who want to move from Mexico to the United States.

The Minuteman project, the starting point of the work, was created in the spring of 2005 by the American activist Jim Gilchrist. Although it may seem like a lie, Minuteman was a real project. Founded in 2008 by screenwriter Juan Carlos Ruiz, Arizona has recently premiered its Basque version in Barakaldo. The Basque proposal has been directed by Esteban Roel with the help of Kepa Errasti. It was precisely his responsibility to translate the text into Basque.

All tickets for the New York City Cultural Center session have been sold out. Due to the lack of seats, I have seen the play from the corner of the technicians and I have been able to share with Kepa Errasti some reflections and impressions both before and after the performance. Since Errasti knows Garmendia and Plazaola perfectly, and before starting the performance he has told me that they have tried to dress the work with the absurd humor that both actors have so innate.

The protagonists of Arizona are a sign of insane patriotism, but they live the mission assigned to them in a very different way. Margaret’s innocence clashes with George’s authoritarian tone. Margaret would like to make a musical, while George passionately defends the rifles in his hand the essence of the Minuteman project: “We have come to defend our country. To control the neighbors and to reflect on the limits.”

The performance is full of absurd humor and from the beginning there have been laughter in the theater. The subject, however, is profound, insane and real. George defends the order of things and his rivalry with the Mexicans is clear. But Margaret has a lot of questions for George: Why did we come here, George? From whom should we defend the homeland? Why do the southern neighbors want to cross?

As the play progresses, the succession of doubts and authoritarian responses reveals the relationship of power that sustains the relationship between Margaret and George. The play gradually loses its initial humorous tone, and George’s attitude and the content of his conversations are becoming more and more violent. Plazaola and Garmendia make an obvious change of record, adding the corresponding raw material to the subject.

The most absurd musical has become a deep drama. At the end of the show, the actors were applauded, but no initial laughter was heard. They have worked on an extreme situation, using extreme characters and, without intending to make excessive spoilers, the extreme is the solution that the characters have found to the situation.