The task of research led me some years ago to carry out an analytical and interpretative work of one of the most important Venezuelan dramatists of the 20th century, Isaac Chocrón. I focus on this post in his work Written and Sealed. I wanted to share this text with you, dear Steemit readers.

_{Isaac Chocrón (Foto: Fernando Bracho) Fuente}

AN INITIAL INSIGHT

The play Written and Sealed (1993) by Isaac Chocrón (1930-2011) is, from my point of view, a milestone in the dramaturgical maturity of this important Venezuelan writer. I perceive this text of Chocrón as a vertex, a point of arrival in which the purification of his theatrical production is expressed; a spiritual tear can be seen manifested in the essentiality of form and depth of content as the decanting of a journey. And in such an experience is identified the achieved transcendence of his theater.

This expression reached in Written and sealed can be foreseen in the path completed by the dramatic work of Chocrón. This seems to be indicated by certain remarks made by the critics when making a balance of what was produced by the author up to the decade of the 70s. Rubén Monasterios has appreciated a "flexibilization of the form with the consequent increase of the expressive possibilities". Susana Castillo, on the other hand, has realized an experimental process "that ends in expressive synthesis", highlighting the agile, sharp and direct character of her language. Such traits continue to manifest themselves in Writing and Sealed, especially in the simplicity of the formal resources that characterise it and in the use of a precise and effective dialogue. Castillo has also observed the central presence of two aspects of content: the sadness and loneliness of her characters. However, Monasterios has noted a certain expansion in the treatment of the social, which would give the incorporation of a restlessness towards the collective, towards "the community"; perhaps this is a way of concretizing that "dense and original reflection on the being and destiny of man", which recognizes Monasterios as a fundamental element of Chocrón's dramaturgy. It can be said that the individual and the collective coexist tensely in the work in question: the loneliness and sadness of the individual are transformed by the solidarity and grace offered by friendship, the coexistence with the "chosen family", as Chocrón liked to say.

_{Some of his theatre books (Own composition)}

Written and sealed constitutes, therefore, an important moment in the dramaturgical development of this author of the Venezuelan theater. The features that have characterized his formal search and his thematic preoccupation reach here a particular dimension. The configuration of the scenographic space and the use of non-verbal signs; the assumption of temporality; the treatment of the characters, their individual concerns and the relationships that are built between them; the conflicts that come to life within them; the thickness of the dramatic text: these are the main elements in which the stage of maturity that defines this work is conjugated and expressed, making it the vehicle of a transcendent aspiration.

THE WORK AND ITS COMPONENTS

Before considering the concrete treatment of the text, it will be convenient to present the argumental synthesis of the piece: Saúl, a university theatre professor, has traveled, on his sabbatical year, to Albuquerque (a city in the southern United States), invited by the university of that city. The real reason for the trip is to spend his mourning for the death, due to AIDS, of a close friend, Luis, who was a photographer. In that city he meets an old friend, Miguel, who was an actor and is now a Catholic priest, and who is also ill with AIDS. In the interaction with Miguel, with the interventions of Luis, present through memory and affection, Carmen, the domestic who traveled with the teacher, and Nancy, his assistant, a transformation takes place in Saúl: the encounter with himself and with his faith.

Like other previous works by Chocrón, Written and Sealed is divided into two parts, and these, in turn, into scenes, eight in total. The division into scenes seems to be related to an internal structure of temporal character and a consequent semantic function; perhaps it responds to the condensed and continuous character of the dramatic action, based on the meeting and permanent dialogue of the characters, aspect that will define the work from its first moment.

_Fuente

The eight scenes will be marked in their beginnings by music: the second movement (Adagio cantabile) of Beethoven's Sonata Nº 8 ("Pathetic") (you can hear it at this link). There is a correspondence between the external structure of the work, the subdivision and distribution of the selected movement of the sonata, and the atmosphere and tone of what happens. The adagio is characterized by being a slow, serene and collected musical movement; moreover, in this case, it is inscribed within a composition that already by its name, the "Pathetic", reaffirms the sense of emotional commotion expressed by the musical fragment. The structural exterior is occupied and substantiated by the rhythmic and subjective cadence of the music, revealing an interiority in process, the one lived by the characters of the work.

The specificity of the scenographic space as a closed and interior place (Saúl's apartment), contrasts with the space outside, only alluded to in the dramatic dialogue: the open space of the Albuquerque desert. In addition, it is a unique space, repeated, in which the meeting of the characters will be concentrated; in this another significant contrast can be seen: the uniqueness of the physical space as opposed to the internal mutability of the characters. This significant feature is reinforced by the frugality of the scenery, accessories and lighting, signifiers of great relevance to the atmosphere and vision of Written and sealed.

A white cyclorama, a round table, four chairs and two terrace loungers make up the scenery. These elements contribute to the figuration of this simple and essential environment that has been pointed out. The accessories will compose and recompose a space inhabited by a certain redundancy, empty spaces where affection and interior dispossession emerge and act. To which the colours - "black, grey and white as in black and white photographs", is added-, which iconise and symbolise the central content of the work, communicating the predominant aesthetic conception represented in photography.

_{Photograph by Luis Salmerón, from the original edition of the work in 1993,
edited by the Centro Cultural Consolidado.}

Continue...

Thank you for your reading. I look forward to seeing you in the next issue.

Writed by @josemalavem

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