Death and the Maiden

              Death and the Maiden

        While browsing through a London Fashion Magazine It was brought to my attention that British born actor, Thandie Newton, would present her stage debut as Paulina in Death and the Maiden. Once I learned that Thandie Newton would perform at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London I knew I had to be there. Since this was the first time watching the Crash, Mission impossible 2, for coloured girls, actor perform live, I was beyond excited and full of grand expectations for Newton’s performance.  Because this was the first debut of Death and the Maiden in over 20 years, the pressure was on for Newton’s performance and overall her interpretation of the main character, Paulina Salas. Death and the Maiden unfolds as a multifaceted story of a woman’s fated encounter with the man who she believes raped and tortured her years ago. The play attracts audiences to a vengeful, authoritative, yet emotional protagonist seeking her own redemption with the help of her Lawyer Husband, Geraldo, played by Tom Goodman-Hill, when the accused rapist is staying in her very own home.

The question is then: How does the man Paulina believes is her rapist end up in her home? Well, the audience soon finds out that her husband’s (Geraldo) vehicle has broken down and he has been given a lift by a friendly doctor, Roberto (played by Anthony Calf). In return Geraldo invites Roberto over for an evening at him and Paulina’s home. However, the night ends with Paulina’s inclining of Roberto’s voice as the voice of the man who raped and tortured her in her college years. Subsequently, Paulina tries to convince her husband that their house guest is the perpetrator. But of course, Geraldo is weary of his wife’s accusations of the man who helped him by the road side. The most hostile point in the production of Death and the Maiden is of a much traumatized Paulina who decides to take matters into her own hands. This particular scene shows Paulina walking tensely towards their guest bedroom to find Roberto asleep then she knocks him unconscious.

The audience watches in complete silence as Paulina struggles to drag Roberto into the kitchen (Centre stage) and tie him to a chair. When Roberto comes to, Paulina begins to taunt him with a gun at his head in order to get him to admit to her rape and torture. Death and the Maiden raise many questions of morality and integrity. Throughout the play the audience is enthralled in figuring out the truth.  Although the overall impression of the play is aimed at making out Paulina as a mad, disillusioned woman, I held a great sense of confidence in her conviction of Roberto. Paulina’s husband, Geraldo, has found himself in a dilemma. Paulina wants him to take Roberto to trial for her alleged rape. He refuses and deems her as disillusioned. Paulina threatens to kill the man who she believes did this to her, if her husband doesn’t comply with her demand. At this point Roberto and Geraldo are in conversation where he assures his innocence to Paulina’s lawyer husband. Overall, the play attempts to unfold the truth, but leaves the audience with a sense of ambiguity in the end.

I found the overall staging of the production to be very simplistic in its set up. The stage required a single sliding glass window over the main set up of a beach side kitchen (altering from daylight to dark) undemanding sound effects (record player, car engine sound, etc) Additionally, it was the presence of the three actors, (especially Anthony Calf, who spent much of the performance tied to a chair) all whom did quite well in taking on the entire stage in the form of each of their elected characters.

Vengeful Paulina (Newton) holding a gun to Roberto’s (Calf) head trying to get him to talk. 

I have to say I was somewhat disenchanted with Thandie Newton’s performance as Paulina. I found that the character of Paulina Salas required the spirit of a demanding, fearful, vengeful, and even vindictive persona of a rape victim. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the impression of a vengeful rape victim from Newton. Overall, Death and the Maiden is a wonderfully intense thriller of redemption, morality and integrity. I would recommend this production to anyone who enjoys a good tension building story, not to mention being in the presence of the Beautiful Thandie Newton.


Amna F. Asghar