Lascurain or the Briefness of Power
One-act play by Flavio González Mello [2005]
**Awarded "Best Production of the Year" and "Best Actor of the Year" by the Mexican Asociation of Theatrical Critics (2005).
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Carlos Cobos, Héctor Bonilla, Moisés Arizmendi and Fabiana Perzabal in "Lascurain or the Briefness of Power" (Photo by JJ Carreón).
Synopsis
What feelings occupy the human soul of someone who holds in his hands, during three quarters of an hour, the all encompassing power of a nation’s government?
Lascurain or the Briefness of Power proposes an imaginary answer to a real historical episode known as the “Decena Trágica”. On February the 19th 1913, the President Francisco I. Madero and vice-president Pino Suárez are held captive by the same generals that days before has sworn to defend them from the rebels of the Ciudadela. They are forced to renounce their offices and bestow the governing power on Victoriano Huerta. But, the usurper, as he is known, decides to varnish his coming into power with a coat of legitimacy. Thus, following the Constitutional precepts, before he accepts the Presidency of the Mexican Republic, the chair goes to the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pedro Lascurain. His is the honor of holding the Executive Office during 45 minutes. The only government decisions taken by “The Lightning President” are to appoint Huerta as his sole minister and to renounce so that he automatically takes over the presidency.
Thus stands the historical episode. The theatrical fiction is build upon an imaginary plot of what could have happened during this brief period of time. We take this opportunity to explore the inner mechanisms of our presidential regime that, every six years, bestows on someone an office that seems to grant him absolute power, and that ends up by letting him fall just when he begins to see himself as master puppeteer and holder of all secrets. And, because in the relativity of political time, 45 minutes can be as long as six years, all Presidents, when they are near the hour of leaving power, feel that their mandate was as brief and fleeting as that of Pedro Lascurain.
Lascurain or the Briefness of Power invites the spectator to witness in real time (time that tends to be longer or shorter according to the psychological state of the characters) the manner in which power transforms the president in turn. In this instance represented by Lascuráin but it could be anybody (including one of us). It is a process towards insanity that every six years (the Mexican presidential term) we can all behold. This portrait of power is begotten by irony, not without bitterness, for the vices of the rules pictures by the play, tend to have a disastrous outcome for the whole country.
Lascurain or the Briefness of Power proposes an imaginary answer to a real historical episode known as the “Decena Trágica”. On February the 19th 1913, the President Francisco I. Madero and vice-president Pino Suárez are held captive by the same generals that days before has sworn to defend them from the rebels of the Ciudadela. They are forced to renounce their offices and bestow the governing power on Victoriano Huerta. But, the usurper, as he is known, decides to varnish his coming into power with a coat of legitimacy. Thus, following the Constitutional precepts, before he accepts the Presidency of the Mexican Republic, the chair goes to the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pedro Lascurain. His is the honor of holding the Executive Office during 45 minutes. The only government decisions taken by “The Lightning President” are to appoint Huerta as his sole minister and to renounce so that he automatically takes over the presidency.
Thus stands the historical episode. The theatrical fiction is build upon an imaginary plot of what could have happened during this brief period of time. We take this opportunity to explore the inner mechanisms of our presidential regime that, every six years, bestows on someone an office that seems to grant him absolute power, and that ends up by letting him fall just when he begins to see himself as master puppeteer and holder of all secrets. And, because in the relativity of political time, 45 minutes can be as long as six years, all Presidents, when they are near the hour of leaving power, feel that their mandate was as brief and fleeting as that of Pedro Lascurain.
Lascurain or the Briefness of Power invites the spectator to witness in real time (time that tends to be longer or shorter according to the psychological state of the characters) the manner in which power transforms the president in turn. In this instance represented by Lascuráin but it could be anybody (including one of us). It is a process towards insanity that every six years (the Mexican presidential term) we can all behold. This portrait of power is begotten by irony, not without bitterness, for the vices of the rules pictures by the play, tend to have a disastrous outcome for the whole country.
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Play info
A play in one act
Cast:
1 actress, 3 actors.
Lenght:
1 hour and 40 minutes.
Awards
“José Solé” Award as the Best Production of the Year 2005, by the Mexican Asociation of Theatrical Critics.
“Fernando Soler” Award for Best Actor of 2005 by the Mexican Asociation of Theatrical Critics, ex-aequo to Héctor Bonilla and Carlos Cobos.
Opening:
April 16, 2005
National Palace at Mexico City.
Opening season:
180 performances
Opening cast:
PEDRO LASCURAIN: Héctor Bonilla
PHOTOGRAPHER: Carlos Cobos
TELEPHONE OPERATOR: Fabiana Perzabal
CAPTAIN: Moisés Arizmendi
Stage designer
Arturo Nava
Dressing designer
Cristina Sauza
Original score and sound designer
Eduardo Gamboa
Executive producer
Marco Antonio de Jesús
A production by
La Compañía Perpetua / XXI Festival de México en el Centro Histórico / Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes / Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México / Erizo Teatro
Written and directed by
Flavio González Mello
Cast:
1 actress, 3 actors.
Lenght:
1 hour and 40 minutes.
Awards
“José Solé” Award as the Best Production of the Year 2005, by the Mexican Asociation of Theatrical Critics.
“Fernando Soler” Award for Best Actor of 2005 by the Mexican Asociation of Theatrical Critics, ex-aequo to Héctor Bonilla and Carlos Cobos.
Opening:
April 16, 2005
National Palace at Mexico City.
Opening season:
180 performances
Opening cast:
PEDRO LASCURAIN: Héctor Bonilla
PHOTOGRAPHER: Carlos Cobos
TELEPHONE OPERATOR: Fabiana Perzabal
CAPTAIN: Moisés Arizmendi
Stage designer
Arturo Nava
Dressing designer
Cristina Sauza
Original score and sound designer
Eduardo Gamboa
Executive producer
Marco Antonio de Jesús
A production by
La Compañía Perpetua / XXI Festival de México en el Centro Histórico / Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes / Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México / Erizo Teatro
Written and directed by
Flavio González Mello
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