Papeles! y mas papeles!!!

For the creative aspect of my Consul project, I have decided to sing an aria from the opera. As Magda only has the one, it is going to be the “Papers” aria. However, it is really long…and does include some interrupting conversation from the Secretary. I’m going to have to figure some kind of cut maybe. I thought about translating it into Spanish – thought that might be cool. I gave it the old college try, and it was going pretty well. But then I thought do I really want to take it that far? Should I take it that far? If I leave the characters as they are, which would make Spanish their second language, then it makes sense that the opera be in English. Who knows? Maybe the Inspector should have a Spanish accent?

If I was more crafty, I would have loved to have done a mockup up the set. However, I feel I lack the skills to put something like that together. I also thought it would be interesting to do the aria in what might be used as a costume for Magda. Given their circumstances, she would need to be dressed as one of the “campesinos,” or farming folk. I’ve been going through some family photo albums and seeing what my family wore while they still lived on the island. I’ve also decided to watch a couple of films (no, not The Godfather or Scarface). The most recent would be The Lost City by Andy Garcia. It is set around the time I am looking at, with a lot of different costuming ideas since they show a diverse number of characters from different walks of life. It is also a decently realistic portrayal of what life was like when Batista was overthrown. Some scenes include the main character Fico Fellove being forced to leave anything of real value behind before being allowed to leave. It’s that kind of maltreatment and injustice that I think really unifies my idea to the Consul.