Many people may not be familiar with the term ‘mortido’, though they’ll likely be aware of its (arguably) more gratifying cousin.
The libido is our sex drive, compelling us to ecstasy and adolescent awkwardness, while mortido is the death drive. It is formed by our shadow self, self-destructive and fatalistic, and in Angela Betzien’s new play, Mortido, it forms the noose by which so many characters dangle. Actor David Valencia appreciates the universality of the theme, and finds his own villainous role particularly suited to the seduction of danger.
“Mortido is the self-destructive desire for death, and that reveals itself throughout the play in many ways,” he explains. “The character I play, El Gallito, which is Spanish for ‘the little rooster’, is himself an omen of death. He’s an eerie vision of vengeance and violence. He is, in fact, mortido. For Jimmy [Tom Conroy], he embodies both the desire for sexual pleasure and for death. As Grubbe, played brilliantly by Colin [Friels], says, we all have it. It’s something that we as artists have, it’s something the audience will recognise in themselves.”
While director Leticia Cáceres has assembled a uniformly strong cast, early anticipation is fixed to the reappearance of Friels on the Belvoir stage. Last time he trod the boards here in Death Of A Salesman, he walked away with the Helpmann Award for Best Actor. Friels is a performer whose creative generosity is something Valencia very much admires, and is a trait the Columbian-born actor sees shared by another performer he has had the fortune to experience first-hand – that young upstart, Kevin Spacey.
“Like every great actor, I think Kevin’s dedication to finding the truth of the moment, the heart of every one of the characters we’ve seen him play, is awe-inspiring,” says Valencia. “He’s much like Colin, who I’ve now had the pleasure of sharing a stage with. He’s an actor’s actor. These are actors who are still learning their craft, they’re still asking questions, they’re still trying to serve the writer rather than satisfy their own ego.
“Regarding Colin, he’s the most humble, generous man, someone I deeply respect and admire. I have had the privilege of seeing him play Mark Rothko in Red for MTC, and Willy Loman here at Belvoir. I remember sitting in that audience as a recent graduate thinking, ‘God, I look forward to the day I might get the chance to share the stage with this man.’ And here we are!” he laughs. “I feel absolutely fortunate to be able to say that.”
Having already met with glowing reviews for its premiere season in Adelaide, as Mortido arrives in Sydney it will experience an odd kind of homecoming. Despite a plot that arcs across the globe from Mexico to Germany, this has been billed as a quintessentially Sydney story, not simply in theme, but geography. With scenes set in Belvoir’s own stomping grounds, it will present a strikingly thin divide between street and stage.
“It is a Sydney tale, but ultimately it’s a global story,” Valencia explains. “Angela does a sublime job of transporting us from the jungles of Bolivia to the hipster nightclub scene in Germany, from the horror and miserable violence of Mexico to the affluent Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. She and our director Leticia are long-time collaborators, and they’re setting out to make political plays in a country where perhaps talking about politics at the dinner table is considered a bad manner. So they put it up onstage, and it’s a courageous production, far removed from the live theatre we so often see gracing our stages. As an actor, that’s a gift, and is so exciting to tackle. Angela’s skill as a writer is giving a voice to the voiceless, and I believe her writing has the power to open up conversation and change perspective. If when you leave the theatre you have something to think about and discuss, I think we’ve done our job. Ultimately, that’s what we’re doing it for.”
Despite addressing dark and at times disturbing themes, Mortido seems far removed from productions that seek to generate buzz or court controversy through gratuitous imagery and character. Rather than sensationalise crime and addiction, it attempts to reveal the grim reality of everyday lives caught up in the machinery of the drug war; a reality that is not so distant from our lives as we might like to think.
“What Angela is trying to plant in an audience’s mind is the true cost of our privileged first-world lives. What I mean by that is, for every individual snorting a line of coke at the Ivy, there is a kid or a struggling mother getting stuck trying to get it across the border. It’s hard to talk about all of this without sounding like a puritan, but it is something that as a society we can’t turn a blind eye to. It’s also a story that hits very personally for me, having grown up in Colombia.
“I think it’s a play that transcends Australian everyday life. It speaks of the current war on drugs, and deals with the mules, the peddlers, the users. It’s a very important play, and one that we hope will, in whatever way, connect with an audience.”
Mortido runs until Thursday December 17 atBelvoir St Theatre.
