Festival ’90 : STAGE REVIEW : L.A. FESTIVAL : A Passionate Rendition of Allende’s Saga

In “El Gran Circo de Chile” at the Santa Monica Pier Saturday and Sunday, Rodolfo Pulgai looked remarkably like the late president Salvador Allende, the leftist president of Chile from 1970 to 1973, and masterfully expressed the man’s rare moments of relaxation as well as his gravity and his passion.

Like its acclaimed romance, “La Negra Ester,” El Gran Circo Teatro de Chile and director Andres Perez Araya adapted their commedia style to the story about Allende. It was presented in Spanish in many short scenes, with a fiercely emphatic acting style. The action was almost always accompanied by a driving, haunting musical score, performed live with remarkable delicacy and precision by Guillermo Aste and Jorge Lobos.

The set design, by Eduardo Feuerhake, was even more spartan than that for “Ester,” consisting of a red carpet for most of the action, a narrow curtain at the back of the stage that was scaled as well as opened, and a coppery backdrop that perhaps was a subtle reminder of the role of copper in Chile’s economy and Allende’s downfall.

However, another important contributor to Allende’s troubles, the United States as represented by the CIA, was hardly mentioned. The English-language synopsis indicated a scene in which Richard Nixon vowed to thwart Allende, but it was omitted from the opening-night performance. A festival spokesman, quoting a company member, reported that the scene was “cut fairly early in the rehearsal process” for the show, which made its bow 20 days ago in Zurich, and there are no plans to restore it.

It’s a baffling omission, considering how much U.S. citizens have heard about their government’s intervention in Chile. Perhaps it was simply decided to keep the show as Chilean as possible.

Certainly the English language synopsis was inadequate; it covered only the first half of the show and omitted most of the essential historical background.

Rented headsets offered a live translation, but publicity about this service was virtually non-existent, and some of the potential renters remained unaware of the headsets until the show was over.

There was no intermission, which might have helped non-Spanish speakers discover the headsets--and given everyone a break from the bleacher-style seating.