Zilah Mendoza, Matthew Martinez and Jesse J. Perez
Families can be wonderful. And awful. In turn, and sometimes both at once.
Playwright Eugene O’Neill wrote about families and their problems. So did Arthur Miller. Now a member of the new generation of American playwrights – Tony Meneses – brings us “El Borracho,” a “dramedy” drawn from his own family.
Addiction, age, illness, boredom, annoyance, exhaustion – they’re all here in one 90-minute bite of the old theatrical apple.
“El Borracho” (the drunk) brings us Raul (Jesse J. Perez), an aging, ill, in fact dying old man (okay, alcoholic) who returns to the small one-bedroom house he left 25 years ago when he and ex-wife Alma (Zilah Mendoza) could no longer stand to be married.
Son David (Matthew Martinez) is home and surmises the old guy has returned not because he misses the family, but because he can no longer take care of himself. That seems to be the case; the old guy limps and clutches his groin for reasons we are not privy to.
Raul snorts when he finds out Alma now works at a local school as a “lunch lady,” though his last fancy job was as a pizza delivery man.
Alma is just tired of doing everything for everybody.
David, about 20, has a bone to pick with both parents. He is a budding playwright and wrote a play while in school, and he’s convinced that the fact that neither parent showed up indicates that neither thought it important enough to make the effort to see it.
Everybody’s got bones to pick in this family, and after a while the complaints get to be a bit much. But at least they have a sense of humor about it, which makes it tolerable, sometimes downright funny to watch.
Theater in the round is ideal for this play; the limited space adds to the “trapped” feeling evoked by the dialogue.
Playwright Meneses, born in Guadalajara and raised in Albuquerque and Dallas, is a graduate of the Juilliard School. After he’d written five plays, his teacher, playwright Marsha Norman, told him, “At some point in your career, you have to write the play that scares you.”
“El Borracho” is that play. Blame the teacher if you have complaints with the play, but you will have no complaints about the cast.
Jesse J. Perez is well-known in San Diego as the director of the Old Globe/USD graduate theatre program; here he turns in an excellent performance as David’s father Raul.
Zilah Mendoza’s exhausted Alma reminds me of women in similar circumstances I have known. But even she has a sense of humor.
Matthew Martinez gives a fine performance as David, who loves his family but feels they don’t love him back, at least not enough.
Mextly Cousin’s lighting and David R. Molina’s original music and sound add to the atmosphere.
Everybody probably has (or at least has heard) a story similar to“El Borracho,” which plays through March 20 at The Old Globe’s White Theatre.
Showtimes: Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 p.m.; Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m.; Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m.; Sunday at 2 and 7 p.m.
For tickets: theoldglobe.org or (619) 234-5623
Masks are required, as is proof of vaccination.
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