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<\/a>\u201cIf you just look down south of the border, what\u2019s happening right now, with all the rounding up of Latin Americans in the United States, not caring if they\u2019re US citizens or not, putting their children in jail, sending lawful individuals direct to jail who are just trying to look for a better job\u2014it\u2019s just insane,\u201d says B\u00e1tiz-Ben\u00e9t. \u201cIf you see all the countries in Europe where fascism is rising and the far right is gaining power in the state, it\u2019s a long list of very specific situations that are happening and echoing the political structure that Lorca was responding to.\u201d<\/p>\n
B\u00e1tiz-Ben\u00e9t says that racism is a way to incite one group of people to hate another group for senseless reasons, and the only function of this is to create blame where none exists, which we perpetuate unknowingly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s always a scapegoat,\u201d she says, \u201cand it\u2019s that fear and that hatred that gets passed down generation after generation that I\u2019m trying to speak about in the play.\u201d<\/p>\n
B\u00e1tiz-Ben\u00e9t suggests that the solution to this kind of ingrained hatred is to teach our children tolerance and love for other people; she says this starts from the very beginning.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt starts by what we teach our children, the kind of world we want to create. If we just keep feeding them the same garbage, like be scared of the others, be fearful, be violent, then the world will never change,\u201d she says. \u201cInstead we offer them tolerance, love for the other human beings, understanding, acceptance, curiosity, the fact that we\u2019re all the same, we\u2019re just trying to survive and be good people, we just keep reinforcing that and things will change, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n
La B\u00eate<\/i>, directed by Brian Richmond of Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre, likewise features a strong political message. It\u2019s a classic retelling, but delves into similar themes of manipulation and populism.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis is just so dead-on, this kind of insistence on vulgarity and populism at all costs,\u201d says Richmond. \u201cOf course, I\u2019m referring to the orange-faced man south of the border. It\u2019s just such a current issue.\u201d<\/p>\n The theme of La B\u00eate<\/i> is about adherence to the truth as a philosophical ideal.<\/p>\n \u201cThe seriousness of the theme is about where truth resides in language; it\u2019s about whether truth in language is important to a culture, or not,\u201d says Richmond. \u201cWhat every artist is attempting to do is tell the truth, which is a very broad-reaching concept, but they attempt to do that by utilizing the rigour of their skill, of their craft, and their approach to the world around them.\u201d<\/p>\n B\u00e1tiz-Ben\u00e9t\u2019s take on Blood Wedding<\/i> underscores this. Although difficult, it\u2019s not impossible to break free of systemic racism, she says.<\/p>\n \u201cIt really takes a lot of individual and collective effort to really change things, but I do think it\u2019s possible if we all realize that this is not the way,\u201d she says. \u201cAt what point do we say enough is enough? It\u2019s about breaking the cycles of violence, and teaching different values, like let\u2019s not be scared of each other.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n B\u00e1tiz-Ben\u00e9t wants her play to be an eye-opener for viewers, to show how they can take individual action for the collective good, and make a real change.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOur differences make us better, so I think it\u2019s about that, about just being curious with one another, and kind,\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s what this play is about. If we just keep handing fear to our children, this cycle of violence will not end, and it will just keep being the same thing over and over again.\u201d<\/p>\n B\u00e1tiz-Ben\u00e9t says that she intends to update a classic every year to increase cultural relevance and accessibility to new audiences.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re choosing great plays from around the world and reawakening them with a bold new vision, for audiences of today,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to show audiences plays that they would never really know about or have the chance to see, because that\u2019s not the kind of theatre that you can see anywhere near here, and we\u2019re trying to offer that to them.\u201d<\/p>\n The two plays will feature the same actors and be performed on alternating days at the Belfry. According to Richmond, La B\u00eate<\/i> and Blood Wedding<\/i> balance each other well because they\u2019re two sides of the same coin; they find opposing ways of commenting on the same themes.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you look at comedy and tragedy as the foundation of theatre, these are prime examples of that,\u201d he says. \u201cOne is very beautifully dark and mysterious and dramatic, and the other is very bright and frivolous with a serious theme at the centre of it all.\u201d<\/p>\n