Fri, Jul 04, 2008
 Victor Carpinteiro and Carlisle Ellis in the lustful "El Deseo/Desire".
Courtesy of Borderlands Theatre
Paragon Electric Electricians General ADVANCED AUTOMOTIVE DISPATCHER/SECRETARY Automotive Oilstop Oil Change Techs Production and Manufacturing Pioneer Landscaping Crushing Crew Trades/Construction Jacobs Electric Electricians & Helpers Administrative & Professional Tucson Symphony Teleservices Sales/Courtesy Rep Trades/Construction Pioneer Landscaping Yard Person/Loader Operator Accent'Desire' a steamy, rapturous dramaArizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 06.01.2006
Whew. Just whew. Borderlands Theater's production of "El Deseo/Desire" is very, very whew-worthy.
And not just because the steamy play explodes with lustiness.
Sure, sex is an essential ingredient in this script by Mexican playwright Victor Hugo Rascón Banda, but the fireworks aren't just between the sheets.
They come, too, from a clash of cultures. Of language. Of expectations. Of ages. A clash of two people who can't keep their hands off each other, who become so entwined in their emotions and desires that they forget to to open their hearts and minds.
Susan is a 50ish professor at the University of California at Los Angeles. While in Cartagena, Colombia, one day, she finds young and hunky Victor and hires him to be her chauffeur. And then she invites him to have a drink. Then to her hotel room.
The two are in serious lust with one another. They make love. She brings him back to Los Angeles. They make love again. Then again and again. No discussions about family, or desires, or hopes and dreams. Who needs talk like that when the sex is so good?
Rascón Banda uses poetic language to have Susan describe what madness has overtaken her:
"When suddenly at the end of one's life/one stumbles on a young body/Young laughter/Young breath/A fog envelops you/A light dizziness, like being a little drunk/Clouds your eyes/The eyes can no longer see . . ."
She proposes to him. He accepts. They move to a new home with extra bedrooms.
And he mentions there's room for his family. Not a good idea, she says.
He says he wants to work. Not a good idea, she says.
He describes in great, sensuous detail a meal he wants to make for her.
"Take out the garlic," she says. "And no chorizo. It's not kosher."
The downhill trip has begun. But oh, what a raw, raunchy ride.
Eva Tessler directed this production with a distinct sense of theatricality. Her actors move with dreamy, dance-like steps, using a passion-red piece of sheer material that serves as a shawl, a bed, a sheet, a line that connects the two, and finally one that separates them.
At first that theatricality feels too contrived, but within five minutes of the 90-minute production, you become so involved with these characters, and watching this headed-for-a-wreck relationship that you not only indulge the artifices, you come to embrace them.
Carlisle Ellis and Victor Carpinteiro are the couple in lust. Ellis, a veteran Tucson actress, is pretty theatrical herself, and that fits in well with the character who throws caution to the wind and brings a young man home from Colombia to bed and wed.
Carpinteiro is magic to watch and listen to. He moves with a sensuality and grace, speaks with an eloquence and passion. Though much of what he said was in Spanish, his intent was so clear that non-Spanish speakers should have no trouble grasping the story and the words in the bilingual production.
This play is steamy with language, emotion, lust, and, especially, message-without-the-lecture.
Whew, indeed.
● Contact reporter Kathleen Allen at kallen@azstarnet.com or 573-4128.
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