The season has already begun, and with it, a threshold has opened. In the gloom of the Gothic Chapel, ghosts rise to recount what still hurts, what has not been redeemed. “Ánimas, mascarada de fantasmas” is theater, but also a rite of memory, a dark mirror where the echo of viceregal Mexico still beats.
And there appears the figure of Don Rodrigo Mendoza de Icaza. His legend, written with blood and ambition, is resurrected every night in this production that transforms the theater into a territory of ghosts, questions, and reconciliations.
Played by Juan Ignacio Aranda, Don Rodrigo is not an invention, but a historical wound. A real psychopath, born into a powerful family in colonial Mexico, who enjoyed inflicting pain, killing, and possessing. Aranda defines him bluntly: “A hunter, a predator, an immoral man. A despicable human being.” With over four decades of experience in film, theater, and television, and training at the UNAM CUT, the United States International University, and CADAC, Aranda embodies a fascinating and disturbing character. “I’ve never played a psychopath before. It’s disturbing. The more you dig, the more you find.”
“Ánimas is not a horror play or a farce: it’s a rite of memory. And in this chaotic world, theater—as a reflection—helps us face our collective ghosts,” Aranda notes.
But Rodrigo is not alone in this spectral dance. He is accompanied by the souls of other legends, embodied by Lisbi Cuéllar, Antonio Rojas, Miguel Ángel Morales, Lorelí Mancilla, Alicia Lara, Esteban Montes, Valentina Gerberoff, and Rogelio Villegas, all under the direction of Rafael Pardo, who proposes a ritual theatricality where words, bodies, and symbols combine to open a rift in time.
Another central character is Fray Alonso Martínez Venegas, inquisitor of the Holy Office. Played by Antonio Rojas, one of the most powerful and complex actors in Mexican theater, this specter of spiritual power emerges to question us not with sermons, but with uncomfortable silences and twisted truths.
“I built a character with many shortcomings; very lonely, in great need of love. Also vain, arrogant for believing his virtues were infallible,” Rojas relates. “The most challenging thing was justifying and defending an indefensible thought. As an actor, I can’t judge him; I must try to understand him.”
The play crosses centuries and mentalities to speak of the present through the echoes of colonial legends. “This story speaks of something that happened in another time, but filtered through the thinking of the present. That intersection is fascinating,” he adds.
The experience is enhanced by live music, performed on the transverse flute and baroque violin by María Vakorina and Eduardo Espinosa, which brings this universe of restless memories to life.
“Ánimas, Masquerade of Spectres” invites the viewer to listen, observe, and allow themselves to be challenged by stories from beyond the grave, perhaps finding in them a way to reconcile with their own history.
Ánimas, Masquerade of Spectres
Dramaturgy: Fernando Martínez Monroy
Director: Rafael Pardo
Cast: Juan Ignacio Aranda, Lisbi Cuéllar, Antonio Rojas, Miguel Ángel Morales, Lorelí Mancilla, Alicia Lara, Esteban Montes, Valentina Gerberoff, and Rogelio Villegas.
Gothic Chapel of the Hellenic Cultural Institute (Av. Revolución 1500)
Performances: Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., Sundays at 6:00 p.m.
Tickets at the box office
Source: eleconomista
