One thing that surprised me going in was how small the cast was, there were only 8 actors, and they stayed on stage the entire time. They had very little props and they were all directed and moved by those on stage. This makes sense since this is meant to be performed at schools where the venue may not accommodate a lot of set material. With all of the actors never leaving the stage the use of positioning was very pinpoint. The center of the stage was where all of the real time action happened, and the right and left sides was "offstage" where actors with more than one role would change, where they had props, and instruments. Given that offstage was visible to the audience they used this to their advantage to set the tone, setting, and atmosphere. Those offstage would portray body language and facial expressions to express what was going on "onstage" and make sound effects and drum on the stools and floor. This intimacy and minimal set made the play not only more personal but alive, it wasn't a reflection of real life as much as it was a performance, a work of art. The actors did all their own work, moving the set, making the music, guiding the transitions. Given their small set and limited cast they addressed the audience and included us in the story.
I would like to speak briefly (because I only have so many words) on the decision to include the audience and why I think they chose to adapt it the way they did. This play was, in one word, 'entertaining' it is half comedy, half tragedy. This is because it has children as the intended audience, the Spanish adaptation, the clash of culture, the humor, the suspense. At the beginning the characters introduce themselves and their roles and relations to others in the play as though you were reading the character list at the beginning. A lot of kids seeing this won't know a lot about the story going in. This performance does an excellent job at knowing their audience.
