tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22361479.post3970311280585581780..comments2024-03-16T06:23:29.917-07:00Comments on The Reverberate Hills; or The Apotheosis of the Narwhal: Chad Deity enters the Aurora, elaboratelyPatrick J. Vazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09279528648512493917noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22361479.post-31459517120170077132012-09-09T12:01:44.017-07:002012-09-09T12:01:44.017-07:00Actually we were encouraged to chant or clap along...Actually we were encouraged to chant or clap along at several points, when various heroes or villains entered the ring, but . . . it just wasn't really that kind of audience. There is a bit in Guerra's explanation to us about the importance of the mask in Hispanic wrestling. But I think this is clearly a view into this world for people who wouldn't otherwise see it, as opposed to a slice of the real thing, such as you had.Patrick J. Vazhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09279528648512493917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22361479.post-40093906156018924312012-09-09T11:39:20.279-07:002012-09-09T11:39:20.279-07:00In the 1970s I was stuck in a cheap motel in Acapu...In the 1970s I was stuck in a cheap motel in Acapulco, Mexico that was next door to a small arena which specialized in boxing and "lucha libre," aka wrestling. I bought a cheap ticket for standing room in the fourth-floor balcony and the stage sounds very much like the Aurora except all four floors were completely surrounded the ring, rather like an operating theatre.<br /><br />The afternoon was one of the most bizarrely entertaining pieces of theater I have ever experienced, and though the winners and losers were obviously scripted, there was lots of improvisation within that script, with players (and audience) occasionally going off script altogether. The final bout was women's wrestling, which turned out to be the most vicious. When it dissolved at the end into a free-for-all among the wrestlers and the first floor audience all swinging at each other, I thought the event had gone completely off the rails, but the young man standing next to me who kept buying me beers all afternoon acted as if it was the most natural denouement possible, and he filed out of the arena with everyone else thoroughly satisfied.<br /><br />Somehow I doubt that the Aurora Theatre production would hold up to such vibrant memories, and if you don't have the first row of the audience jumping in with fisticuffs at some point, the event wouldn't feel properly autentico. But that's just me.Civic Centerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12362422142667230626noreply@blogger.com