The House of Ramón Iglesia by José Rivera
Directed by Anthony Skuse
Sound Design by Alistair Wallace
Produced by MopHead Productions
Presented at Old Fitz Theatre (AUS)
May - June 2015
THE HOUSE OF RAMÓN IGLESIA
The Iglesia family is a Puerto Rican clan that migrated to Long Island in 1961, and whose members we meet in 1980.
Javier is a young political science graduate, who often finds his parents embarrassingly indistinguishable from the Puerto Rican “fools” loitering on 8th Avenue. Father Ramon is a menial labourer usually rendered incoherent by his twin curses of diabetes and alcoholism. Religious mother Delores has never really bothered to learn English. Charlie, the most innocent of them all, is on the cusp of forging an identity for himself, and middle child Julio wants to join the Marines, much to Javier’s disgust. And for some reason, Caroline, Javier’s beautiful white trailer-trash girlfriend wants to tag along for the epic and often humorous Hispanic ride.
As the play progresses, we realise the sharp-tongued, well-educated Javier is no prince and his parents, while no saints, are far more complicated than they first appear.
Featured Tracks:
“[the stage and lighting design] is further assisted by a particularly rousing and apt selection of
music by Sound Designer, Alistair Wallace, that keeps the cultural rhythms of the family
background pulsing throughout.”
