Death and the Maiden

Synopsis

Psychological drama. A man whose car breaks down on the highway is given a lift home by a friendly stranger. The man's wife, believing that she recognises the stranger's voice as that of her torturer who raped her some years before, kidnaps him - with devastating results. The Washington Post called this "the most performed play in the world".

Our Review:

27 July 2004

A native of Chile, Ariel Dorfman was exiled in the 1970s following a coup that overthrew the government. He wrote Death and the Maiden after the fall of Pinochet's regime in 1990 but insists that although the play alludes to events similar to those in Chile the action that unfolds is set now, in an unspecified place. He wants to make these events possible anywhere and unsettle the audience in the process.

15 years ago Paulina - then a medical student with a sideline in helping people in danger flee the country - was kidnapped and systematically raped and tortured. Not surprisingly the events have left her scarred and she has lived in a state of perpetual fear ever since. But now, with a democratic government in power and under the protection of her understanding husband Gerard she is safe. Until one night when his car breaks down and a kind motorist gives him a lift home; Paulina is convinced she knows this stranger, Dr Miranda, and he is no good Samaritan...

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