You’re Insane Not To See This

By C.S Gilbert

Oh. My. God. Or gods. Or whatever. Local playwright Michael Marrero’s drama Locura is flat out the most compelling piece of drama I’ve seen on stage in more than two decades of theater-going and reviewing in Key West. Honestly. No shit. I am absolutely not kidding.

Riveting. Stunning. Authentic (this from a Conch old enough to remember the historical stories). Startling. Bawdy and saucy. Magnificent. That’s what audience members were saying on the way out of Key West Theater on Eaton Street, where Locura is running through March 18. I wasn’t saying much. I was still in tears. Such was the intensity of this performance.

There is much laughter in this script, free falling from the escape from Cuba in the early 1960s to sometime before the present. A young uncle raises his nephew after the father’s death and the mother’s defection. They are close, like white on rice, and their connection is brilliantly displayed by Brandon Beach, well known as a very fine professional local actor who has chosen Key West as home base, as the uncle Chumpi, and Julio Trinidad, an amazingly skilled New York actor new to us, as the nephew, Octavio.

But laughter gives way to tension as the tale progresses. On a nearly bare stage, with only four wooden blocks to be rearranged by the actors as the plot requires, and with accompanying lighting to delineate the scenes, Chumpi and Tavi enfold the audience into their world. This is the history of Key West, beloved island. The acting is superlative, the direction, by Marrero and freelance New York director Stafanie Sertich, flawless.

I have a lot of respect and affection for actor and cinematographer Quincy Perkins, but Locura (the word is Spanish—or Cuban—for insanity) earns Morrero my award for most gifted new theater talent in a couple of decades. Praise, too, to Emily Young, stage manager, costume designer and propmaster, and Juliet Grey, Key West Theater’s producing artistic director.

From the notes: adult themes. Lots of the F word. Is it Voltaire? Man laughs so he will not weep? It is “the cure of a past”. . . “torn between magic and wonder.”

Toward the end, one character says, “I love this island!” If you love this island—Conch or local or snowbird or visitor—do not miss Locura. You may never forget it. Tickets are available at thekeywesttheater.com.

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