At GALA, War Is 'Ha-HA'

'El Rufian' Cast Goes to Extremes

Body language dominates GALA Hispanic Theatre's hardworking production of "El Rufian Castrucho" ("Castrucho the Hustler"), a Spanish comedy about soldiers running amok in a foreign land. The actors speak and listen with such exaggerated intensity that they spend much of their time leaning or recoiling at 45-degree angles.

There is also much mincing and scampering, plus interludes of swordplay replete with cries of "Ha-HA!" followed by a certain amount of running away.

Director Hugo Medrano pushes his large cast to extremes in this 16th-century goof. The goals appear to be slapstick and anarchy -- and why not? The chain of command is puckishly lampooned as playwright Lope de Vega arranges for all ranks of Spain's military, encamped but idle in Italy, to tumble head over heels in pursuit of Fortuna, a lovely Italian lass who seems to be (ahem) on the market.

Not that "El Rufian" is explicitly political, or even implicitly topical, in this straightforward revival. (This is billed as the U.S. premiere, but with roughly 450 surviving plays to Lope's credit, GALA could offer his premieres for generations to come.) Anyone looking for the rattle of agitprop won't find much in the gentle high jinks here.

The center of the complications is Castrucho, an ignoble small-time hustler who bullies Fortuna and fends off Teodora, the crone who looks after the young lady. When the Spanish soldiers begin to show interest, Castrucho, Teodora and Fortuna try to work the profitable angles. Meanwhile, sidekicks are perhaps not what they appear to be; the plot turns on wronged women in disguise. How will everyone get what they want or deserve?

Sorting it out is Lope's strong point. Character nuance (not always a hallmark of farce) and plain belly laughs (ideally an element of farce) aren't. Much of the text is about information -- keeping it clear exactly who is up to what. At least that's the impression left by Heather McKay's dependable English translation, which only rarely compresses a few dozen Spanish syllables into a terse projection such as "Vain love." (The production is in Spanish, with surtitles projected above the stage.)

Even the bawdy pranks involving cross-dressing and midnight confusions come off as tame, like so much traffic reporting. That puts Medrano and company in the position of trying to inject color into relatively flat actions.

Hence all the embroidered performing, led by Alicia Kaplan's hunched posture and metallic growl as the ancient Teodora, and Ernesto Concepcion's rubbery facial expressions and quivering jelly legs as the swaggering buffoon Castrucho. Emilia Sims is appropriately fetching and twittery as Fortuna, and Monalisa Arias and Lorena Sabogal are appealing in the comedy's most reasonable roles as tricksters tricking the tricksters.

The antic comings and goings aren't entirely aided by Stefan Gibson's warmly colored but ungainly set, which features two-dimensional tents frequently hung and removed like laundry from nearly a dozen spears planted upright in the stage. Alessandra D'Ovidio's period costumes are strongly patterned and occasionally loud (see Castrucho's turquoise tights) -- and, like most of the show, are reasonably thoughtful and very busy without being fully alive.

El Rufian Castrucho (Castrucho the Hustler), by Lope de Vega. Directed by Hugo Medrano. Original music, Fahid Atakoglu; lights, Ayun Fedorcha; sound design, Neil McFadden. With Carlos Castillo, Oscar Ceville, George Laws Garcia, Angel Torres, Edgar Trujillo, Alejandro Arce, Hugo C. Dubon, Hector Diaz, Manolo Santalla and Joaquin Mundo. About two hours and 15 minutes. Through March 19 at the Tivoli, 3303 14th St. NW. Call 800-494-TIXS or visit http://www.galatheatre.org .