A Friday in Buenos Aires grabbing your seat at "Recuerdo de Arroyo Malo"

     You`re a bit uptight when you see a comfortable but clearly overweight rat nibbling sensually at the garbage bag where a beggar has just dug out something to eat.

    La rata te mira con ojos melancólicos y te dice: ¿y vos...qué?

    You feel a bit down at the frankly aggressive attitude of the little beast, so you turn the corner and advance along a cobbled street that might have grunted a hundred years ago under the pounding of horse's hooves.

     La puerta en Balcarce 998 está apenas abierta, y al espiar hacia adentro podés identificar una hermosa rubia. A lo mejor, después del encuentro con la rata, la suerte puede ofrecer algo más noble.

     You're entering a theatre, "La Carbonera," a groovie independent style place in one of the oldest streets in Buenos Aires. Your thirst for culture suddenly dries your mouth.

     "¿Qué tal la obra, 'Recuerdo de Arroyo Malo?"

    "Great! A little bit of suspense...you'll love it!" Her voice is soft and filled with conviction, so...why not try...seeing the play?

     En el escenario una casa sin terminar, como en las villas, y una sensación rara, como sí algo insólito iba a suceder.

     The lights go out. You settle back in your seat. Your scant knowledge of Spanish blends in perfectly with the plot, which seems to dash here and there with paranoic fury. Nevertheless, it gathers you in its arms and takes you along. The two actors, Pablo Ruiz and Santiago Traverso, seemed engaged in an enless quarrel, sometimes a bit more than that--for example, when one clubs the other to death. And then everything seems to start all over again. One seems to have had a bit of success in life, the other as wacky as a cat in heat. They are actors and they are characters and you never seem to know when they are talking about theatre, when about life.

      Tienen oficio Pablo y Santiago, especialmente en los momentos más críticos. Lástima que otras veces sus voces casi desaparecen...¡aja! ¡Ellos son los autores de la obra, junto al director, Eduardo Peaguda!

       This city is really filled with secrets, you think, as you wander back to your hostel. Who would have imagined that a rat would have been the cause for your going to see a play about the thin line separating theatre from real life?

      Contactos:  "La Carbonera," Balcarce 998. Reservas: 4362-2651. Funciones: viernes 21:00 horas.