Ariel Dorfman’s Death and the Maiden returns to the stage

Getting ready for a fresh round of rehearsals, Bruce Guthrie talks of his latest play — Death and the Maiden. “It’s a clever play, with many subtle references, and that’s what drew me to it. It’s darkly funny, and has plenty of gallows humour. But it’s definitely not a comedy, and it raises a lot of pertinent issues,” he says.

Premiered in 1990, Death and the Maiden was written by Ariel Dorfman, an Argentine-Chilean playwright, whose theme was based on events that took place in Chile during and after the military regime of Augusto Pinochet. It depicts the association between a political prisoner — Paulina Salas, her husband Gerardo, and doctor Roberto Miranda — who she believes tortured her in the past though he never showed his face. Though Pinochet isn’t named, Guthrie says the play is set during the time a new democratic government took over.