ana diosdado: winner of the fastenrath prize

ANA DIOSDADO: WINNER OF THE FASTENRATH PRIZEAuthor(s): Joan CainSource: Letras Femeninas, Vol. 5, No. 1 (PRIMAVERA 1979), pp. 52-63Published by: Asociacion Internacional de Literatura y Cultura Femenina HispanicaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23021911 .

Accessed: 12/06/2014 12:39

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Asociacion Internacional de Literatura y Cultura Femenina Hispanica is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize,preserve and extend access to Letras Femeninas.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.253 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 12:39:15 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ailcfh

http://www.jstor.org/stable/23021911?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


ANA DIOSDADO

Ana Diosdado has enjoyed tremendous popularity and success in

Spanish peninsular theater in the 1970s. Her first work, Olvida

los tambores, appeared in Madrid in 1970; it received unusual

praise for a young dramatist's first effort. Her next presenta

tion, El okccpi, was also highly applauded.

listed tambien podra disfrutar de ella, the subject of this

study, was first performed at the Teatro Beatriz in Madrid on

September 22, 1973. The greatest measure of its success is that

its author received the Fastenrath prize of the Real Academia

Espanola for it.

Ana Diosdado has presented at least two other plays: Los

comuneros, which was written before Usted tambien podra disfrutar

due ella, but suffered various misfortunes, including that of

censorship, and her most recent work, Y de Cachemira3 chales,

which appeared in 1976. Five plays staged in Madrid since 1970

indicates the emergence of a dramatist who is firmly established

and worthy of note.



Ana Diosdado: listed tambien podra disfrutar de ella. Teatro

eepctnol, 1972-1974 (Madrid, Aguilar, 1975).

Javier Gfimez Villar has been sent by the elitor of a woman's

pulp magazine to interview Fanny Roman, who has been the victim of

a tremendous scandal. The cologne which she advertised in a nude

photo is alleged to have been responsible foi the deaths of three

children. In reality, it is a polio vaccine manufactured by the

same laboratory which has caused the deaths.

Javier falls in love with Fanny and spends a week enclosed

with her in her apartment. When he leaves her to write his story,

he believes that he has helped her to commit suicide. She changes

her mind, but is too late to save Javier who has decided that life

is not worth living and successfully kills himself.

In addition to Javier and Fanny, the play involves only three

other characters. Celia, Javier's wife, reads about Fanny's

suicide in his story and rushes to save her. Manolo is both

Javier's photographer and friend. The fifth actor must be versa

tile enough to play multiple roles. He represents the man on the

street, public opinion.

The action takes place in Madrid, but it could be almost

any large city anywhere. Only occasional allusions bind the

action to contemporary Spain.

S3



ANA DIOSDADO:

WINNER OF THE

FASTENRATH PRIZE

Joan Cain

Ana Diosdado in trying to summarize the t:beme of her Fasten

rath prize winning play, Listed tambien podra diefrutar de ella,

has stated that "es la idea de que el ser humano no puede ser feliz

individualmente y que esta totalmente condicionado por su entorno."1

The theme thus expressed is sijnple; the dramatist's manner of ex

pressing it: plot, characters, dialogue, and other theatrical

devices and techniques, have combined to make a successful, but

complex production.

The spectator of this drama must both listen and look care

fully. For this reason I would like to divide my analysis of it

into two parts: 1) the play's message as it is expressed by the

characters through the dialogue; and 2) the dramatist's use of

other theatrical techniques.

Ana Diosdado's social message and criticism are strong. Via

Javier, and Fanny, her two main characters, she denounces our society

which manipulates people and sacrifices them to its own ends. It

is a society which one day idolizes Fanny because of the publicity

of an advertising campaign, and the next day has pushed her to the

brink of suicide when everyone turns against her. Here, too,

there has been manipulation, for we learn that Fanny was not

54



really advertising cologne as she thought, but that a medical labo

ratory was advertising a-polio vaccine. Since deaths have resulted

from its use, it is better to let the public think that three chil

dren were poisoned and killed by cologne rather than by vaccine. If

public opinion turns against the vaccine, children will not be immu

nized, and there occurs the risk of future epidemics. Thus, apparent

ly the individual is rightfully society's victim; it is to be assumed

that he will accept this role. In the play Javier says that society

has already killed Fanny; her suicide will only be a formality.

The play's chronology is confusing; it is both retroactive and

2 retrospective. Actions occuring at different times occur almost

simultaneously on the stage. In this way the author avoids both a

linear development and the use of the more common flashback tech

nique. The dramatist's use of time in this way also helps to

maintain the action's suspense.

A week's time passes between the two acts, a week during which

Javier and Fanny leave the real world and take refuge in Fanny's

apartment. Ultimately, however, they must return to reality.

Fanny does so successfully, but Javier is unable to do so, and

commits suicide.

There has been some condemnation of the play's conclusion by

critics who have felt that the surprise ending is contrived. I

55



agree with Phyllis Zatlin Boring that Diosdadohas prepared the

audience for this termination.^

Javier, the journalist, Manolo, the photographer, and Fanny,

the ipodel and dancer, share the name Goiroz vrhjch binds them to

gether. They share comnon concerns, yet each reacts differently

to the same situation. Fanny, who is only twenty years old, con

templates suicide because she feels herself to be society's victim.

Yet at the play's conclusion she has found that life is worth

living. Javier, on the other hand, is a cynic, pessimistic and

negative, who considers himself a failure. He has lost faith in

everything and everyone: "Si tuviera fe en algo, o en alguien,

haria cualquier cosa...Pero no puedo fabricarme una fe" (p. 30]. ^

Javier fears a stupid death after a stupid life. One factor that

makes his suicide a surprise is that he talked much, but did little

during his lifetime. His reason for action at the play's end is

that he believes that he has already helped Fanny to die. He also

thinks that her death will make his story about her a success

By contrast with Javier, Manolo sees no solution in suicide;

he believes that society is responsible for Javier's death, but

that one must fight to achieve a better world. Real life cannot

be lived within four walls. Manolo lends a hopeful note to the_

play's condemnation of our contemporary world.

56



Diosdado uses one actor to play multiple roles: the medical

examiner who informs us of the mode of Javier's death at the play's

end, the magazine editor, a neighbor, a doorman, a publicity agent.

This personage is above all the man on tVe street the consumer in

today's society. No matter what he looks like, he is always based

on the same model. Modern man is rapidly becoming a mass produced

machine. The faces resemble each other; the words are always the

same. Such persons always want to give advice; what is more

frightening is that seemingly good people perform hateful actions.

From the beginning, the play is full of symbols and double

meanings. The "ella" of the title refers to the cologne being

advertised and to Fanny, who posed nude for the advertisement.

Later her photo is referred to as shameless and as having been

converted "en lamentable simbolo" (p. 63). When it was first

published, society was encouraged to use and enjoy both the cologne

and the model. Fanny, like the machine and other products of our

consumer society, was to produce a "reaccion en cadena" (p. 35)

and to provide "la solucifin flnica" (p. 57) for all man's problems.

It is in the second act when Javier and Fanny are living

isolated from reality that Diosdado makes use of a number of symbols

to express contemporary man's situation. The first image is that

of Noah's arc during the Biblical deluge. Javier places Fanny

s?



in the arc, but she denies being there, saying that she was in the

flood waters drowning. She declares that Javier jumped off the arc

to save her, but he claims that this would be impossible because of

his inability to swim. He also denies the possibility of learning.

In reality, he says that the arc was not his; he was only one of the

animals who didn't know where he was going nor why. There is no

explanation of the symbolism in the dialogue, but its meaning is

obvious. Javier judges himself incapable of aiding the suffering

Fanny.

In the second symbolic story, Fanny is in the circus arena

being attacked by lions". Javier again declares himself unable to

defend her. He was simply another of those being thrown to vicious

beasts. Fanny shows her basic optimism in this situation when she

states that one can always do something to help another. She later

returns to the images of the arc and the circus: "Cuando comprendiste

que volverlan a arrojarme a los leones, me mataste con tus propias

manos ... No me dejaste flotar en el espacio alrededor de una nave

vacla, serla demasiado horrible, demasiado cruel ..." (p. 69).

When this conversation takes place, Fanny is seeking Javier's help

in committing suicide.

The third symbol is that of Fanny as a prisoner of the Inquisi

tion. At first she had been greatly admired for her magical powers,

58



but later she was condemned as a witch. Javier here sees himself

as her confessor, capable only of listening, but not of actively

helping her.

When the charm of their solitude lias been broken, and Fanny and

Javier are returning to reality, Fanny uses the image of Sleeping

Beauty. She calls it a cruel, unjust story because it doesn't end

the way that the book says. The princess, awakened by the knight's

kiss, lived with him in the castle for several glorious days, but

then one day he announced his departure. This is, of course, what

Javier has just done. The knight, says Fanny, was a troubador who

stayed long enough to compose his song, the only thing which really

mattered to him. Javier, who denies his knightly role, has now

completed his story for the magazine.

The final image used in the series is that of the famous Loch

Ness monster. Javier claims that the English press brings forth

this monster when either there is no news or the news can't be

printed for some reason. He feels that it is a creature which

cannot be fought. Later his friend Manolo used the same image and

declares himself ready to fight this monster.

Haying analyzed the message of the play and its expression

through symbols and images, I would like to turn now to the play as

a play, to the theatrical techniques used by Diosdado to present

59



her theme. Though there may be some debate over whether her control

of dramatic structure is an asset or a liability,4 her technical

command is obvious from the beginning.

The curtain depicts Fanny partially covered by a shower of fall

ing roses with the play's title printed as an advertising slogan.

As the curtain rises, photographic action is achieved via various

shots. In the last of these, a nude Fanny whose body is concealed

only by the shower of roses is running toward the camera on a carpet

of roses. Classical music of any composer except'Mozart accomparies

the scene, and an announcer's voice proclaims: "Listed tambifin pcdrS

disfrutar de ella". The words "Ella de York" also appear in print

(pp. 9-10).

Stage directions like those which describe the opening scene

play a vital role in the successful presentation of this work. In

addition to the confused and complex chronology already mentioned,

several actions often occur simultaneously; there are also several

scenes of action. Each of the two acts ends at almost the same moment

in time; there is, therefore, exact repetition of dialogue shortly

before the conclusion of each.

On stage there is a certain economy of scenery. The same tele

phone and the same drinking glasses, for example, are used by several

characters in various situations and at different times. The same

60



stage space and platform are used to represent an elevator and a

dancing platform for Fanny. Details are sometimes left to the

audience's imagination.

The elevator is the most important part of the stage setting;

it represents entrapment, imprisonment. During almost the entire

first act, Javier is enclosed in it. In the second act, in a

parallel situation Fanny is caught in it and cannot escape to

save Javier. The elevator's symbolism is expressed in the follow

ing dialogue between Javier and Fanny:

Fanny.—Es curloso.

Javier.—iEl qu£? Fanny.—Que al fin y al cabo, sigues igual de

encerrado de antes.

Javier.—iY...?

Fanny.—Nada. Que es muy distinto cuando hay algulen.

Javier.—Eso si. Sobre todo si esta fuera. Si tambien esta dentro, cast es peor.

Fanny.—£No te da la sensacion de que no vas a sallr nunca de ahl?

Javier.—iTu que quieres, animarae?

Fanny.—No me hagas caso ... Pero es horrible, iverdad?

Javier.—iQue es horrible?

Fanny.—Esa sensacion.

Javier.—iTu tambifin te has quedado encerrada?

Fanny.—No. En el ascensor, no.

Javier.—£D6nde?

Fanny.—Todavla no lo s€.

Javier.—iQue? Fanny.—Que no se muy blen donde. Solo se que

no puedo salir (pp. 20-21).

This elevator's door is non-existent. At the end of the first act

Manolo "abre despacio la inexistente puerta del ascensor, tarareando

61



una musiquilla de presentaciOn" (p. 45). Javier and Fanny are about

to meet face to face.

The elevator's space is used again in the second act when in

what seems an unnecessary scene Fanny uses it as a dance platform.

It is a flashback scene to her days as a dancer when a publicity

agent was interviewing her. She dances on the platform to modern

music and psychedelic lighting. It is technically important to

note that this dance scene and the elevator scenes are presented on

a multilevel stage. The person caught in the elevator is not at the

same level as the characters to whom he or she speaks. The same is

true of Fanny when she dances.

The use of classical music for the cologne advertisement shows

to what commercial uses the creative works of great, composers are

put in today's society. Masterpieces are corrupted to advertise

consumer products. Mozart cannot be used for the opening scene of

the first act because his Concerto No. 21 sets the mood for the

opening of the second act in Fanny's apartment. Later Javier uses

it in setting the scene for his suicide.

If Ana Diosdado did not know how to deal skillfully with

scenery, settings, props, lighting and other stage devices, this

play could never have been a success. If it were not a success, it

would never have won the Fastenrath prize. Diosdado obviously has

something to say, and she is expressing herself well.

62



Notes

l-Ana Diosdado, Usted tarribiSn podr& diefrutar de ella, in Teatro espanol, 1973-74, ed. Federico Sainz de Robles, (Madrid:

Aguilar, 1975), p. 3. All subsequent references to the play will be to this edition.

7 Alfredo Marquerle, review reprinted in Teatro eapanol, 1972-74,

p. 5.

^Phyllis Zatlin Boring, "The Theater of Ana Diosdado," Estreno, 3, No. 1 (1977), p. 15.

4 Boring, p. 13.

Bibliography

Boring, Phyllis Zatlln. "The Theater of Ana Diosdado." Eetreno, 3, No. 1 (1977), pp. 13-17.

Diosdado, Ana. Usted tambi&n podrH disfrutar de ella. In Teatro

espcffibl, 1973-74. Ed. Federico Sainz de Robles. Madrid:

Aguilar, 1975, pp. 3-78.

S3



ana diosdado: winner of the fastenrath prize

Documents