Mariano Pensotti: The Past Is A Grotesque Animal (El pasado es un animal grotesco) February 23, 2012

“Blisteringly funny...a compelling portrait of the self-obsession of his own generation that achieves that rare feat of profoundly moving an audience.” Plays International

“Pensotti has a fine facility with irony, with the fine balance between comedy and tragedy and, most of all, with the ability to capture an epic psychosis in an unpretentious nutshell.” British Theatre Guide

A large-scale revolving set magically transforms into dozens of different locales as a quartet of characters tracks a decade of love, loss and adventure in this internationally acclaimed work from Argentine writer-director Mariano Pensotti. In a fast-paced, multilayered “mega-fiction”, The Past follows the evolution of its complex characters as Argentina’s economy collapses and their lives and hopes take unexpected twists and turns. Pensotti avoids sentimental stereotypes at the same time that he reveals a generation’s self-regard with emotional profundity and searing humor. Ingeniously, the circular set is in near-constant motion, allowing for key moments of the drama to be foregrounded until they recede from view, reminding the characters—and us—how quickly a given moment can turn into a distant fiction only to emerge again.

In Spanish with English subtitles.

REDCAT is a Partner of the National Performance Network (NPN).

The Past is funded in part with generous support from Performing Americas, a partnership between the National Performance Network (NPN) and the Network of Cultural Promoters of Latin America and the Caribbean (La RED) designed to increase artistic exchange in the Western Hemisphere. Performing Americas is supported by the NPN and funding provided by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation. For more information visit npnweb.org.