‘Lazaro’ goes begging in a cruel world

The hungry beggar who survives from one scrap of food to the next, over and over again as if stuck with a kind of stubborn immortality, was immortalized in a literary way in the Spanish picaresque novel “The Life of Lazarillo of Tormes” in 1554.

Aristides Vargas adapted the story for the stage for his Malayerba company from Ecuador. “Of the Deaths and Resurrections of Lazarus, the Lazarillo” (“De Como Moria y Resucitaba Lazaro, el Lazarillo”) is playing as part of FITLA -- the International Latino Theatre Festival of Los Angeles -- at [Inside] the Ford through Sunday, in Spanish with English supertitles.

“Playing” is the operative verb. The production focuses on commedia-style antics that outline the character’s predicaments and survival skills, with only occasional nods to a sense of melancholy that reminds us of the protagonist’s hopeless position in life.

Even so, the jokes begin to wear thin, and sadness takes over by the end. This Lazaro, unlike his Lazarus counterparts in the Gospels of Luke and John, is not assured a heavenly reward or a happy ending.

It’s an engaging production as far as it goes, but it could use a dash of Brechtian bite. Lazaro’s encounters are almost entirely with mentors in the begging trade, not with those who created or sustain the conditions that force him to beg. More dramatic conflict might emerge if the play offered a glimpse of how the other half lives.

The production is framed as a memoir by Lazaro, who has just heard about the play we’re seeing, which sounds as if it’s devoted to his life. All three actors (author-director Vargas, Charo Frances, Gerson Guerra) begin with a song, accompanying themselves with accordion, guitar and percussion, and the three take turns in the title role.

Little Lazaro was abandoned by his blowzy mother (Frances) when he was 9 and sent in a boat, in this backwater of the Amazon, to live with a blind “uncle” (Vargas), who denies that he is related and who might not be blind.

The uncle teaches the boy tricks of the begging trade. Guerra, playing Lazaro at this point, demonstrates an assured physical agility as he tries out the many techniques.

Next on the roster of mentors is a charlatan nun (Frances), whose modus operandi is to go to deathbeds to scarf the free food and drink while pretending to usher off the dead to the afterlife with her blessing. Frances uses the occasion to roam through the audience in an improvised segment. At one point, she begins to read the English supertitles that are haltingly projected above the stage.

Guerra plays Luchino the Italian, whose advice is to look as fashionable as possible in order to maximize the returns from begging. The story ends with a visit with an old man who relies on Lazaro’s tales to ward off insomnia.

The company uses a big trampoline to evoke a few moments and a miniature one to provide some comic contrast, as well as a lineup of cartoon-style costumes and props and a dreamy umbrella that floats in space.

*

‘De Como Moria y Resucitaba Lazaro, El Lazarillo’

Where: [Inside] the Ford, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East, Hollywood

When: 8 tonight, 3 p.m. Sunday

Ends: Sunday

Price: $15

Contact: (323) 461-3673

Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes