STAGE REVIEW : Gobbling Granny as a Political Metaphor

It’s a wicked idea, but Roberto M. Cossa’s “La Nona” (“The Granny”), about a grandmother who literally eats her family out of house and home (and life), is winning satire. The play, nicely translated by San Diego Old Globe associate director Raul Moncada, had its American debut at the Globe in January, with the inimitable John Fleck in drag as the all-consuming Nona.

It has now surfaced bilingually at TheatreTeatro in a solid production that does justice to the spirit of Cossa’s play, with Jorge Tort, also in drag, only slightly less effective than Fleck as the 100-year-old granny.

Some of that has to do with director Margarita Galban’s decision to make no attempt at either aging young Tort or making him behave realistically as an old woman. It’s a viable choice, since this is not a realistic play, but rather a political metaphor for Cossa’s native Argentina which, at the time he wrote it (1977), was in the grip of a repressive military junta, with people “disappearing” every day.

Greengrocer Carmelo (Tonyo Melendez), his wife Maria (Margarita Stocker), his aunt Anyula (Sandra Castillo) and his daughter Marta (Rosa Fernandez), all members of a struggling family of Italian immigrants in Buenos Aires, seem dedicated to one thing: supporting the unquenchable appetite of their clamoring, ever-present, all-devouring Granny.

Granny, who’s in resplendent health, will eat anything and at all times of the day or night--lunch, breakfast, dinner, dessert, cheese, fruit, popcorn, chocolates--and drink anything--wine, water and everybody’s life’s blood.

The only unaffected person (though not for long) is Chicho (Rudy Morrocco), Carmelo’s brother, a layabout who fancies himself a composer of tangos and who’s worst fear is having to work. The play heats up when Carmelo can’t make ends meet, and he and Maria, sick of catering to Chicho’s indolence, try to force him to take a job. That’s where the fun begins.

The comedy stems from Granny’s relentless voraciousness and Chicho’s endless avoidance strategies. If she’s the problem, reasons Chicho, then getting rid of her must be the solution. Rather than go to work, he devises ways of getting Granny lost, married (to the well-to-do candy store owner, Don Fancisco, played by Peppin Valera) or even killed.

Of course, nothing works.

The comedy turns dark as one by one, it is the members of this hapless family who “disappear” or die. Bit by bit, they sell the house and furnishings, and bit by bit the family falls apart, while Granny--ever vibrant and unfazed--munches, crunches, chomps, chews, gnaws, gulps and bolts down everything in sight.

The metaphor is obvious and can have several applications. But even at face value, Cossa’s entertaining satire packs plenty of punch, if you can overlook essential logic.

The production at TheatreTeatro (seen in its English incarnation) could stand a little tighter tempo and better detailing (such as replacing Anyula’s wig, which now seems made of solid plastic). Timing is everything. But as a whole, the company delivers acceptably broad performances--including Tort’s impish, childlike mugging and bent-over scamper as the ubiquitous Granny--that fit the play’s larger-than-life style.

Estela Scarlata’s kitchen set and Robert Fromer’s lighting are adequate, as (with the exception of the wig) are the costumes by Scarlata and Alejandra Flores.

At the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts, 421 North Ave. 19, Lincoln Heights. In English: Wednesdays and Thursdays, 8 p.m. In Spanish: Fridays and Saturdays, 8 p.m., with matinees Sundays at 3. Ends June 3. $12 (213) 225-4044.