Death and the Maiden – Harold Pinter Theatre

The play by Ariel Dorfman, first performed in 1991, focuses on Paulina Salas in an unnamed Latin American country. A young woman abused by members of the previous dictatorship becomes convinced that a man who helped her husband on the roadside is actually the sadistic doctor who supervised the most atrocious tortures in her past.

Thandie Newton plays the role of Paulina with striking ferocity and passion, switching between loving wife and avenging victim with startling intensity. Unsure whether she has gone mad with anger or whether Dr. Miranda is in fact the man who left her to die all those years ago, the audience is captivated.

Paulina’s husband, Gerardo, is a surprisingly passive character who seems unable to stop his wife’s actions. Though at times slightly uncertain, Tom Goodman-Hill plays him with an unending devotion, finding the balance between shock and support as Gerardo too suffered as a political prisoner.

Dr. Miranda (Anthony Calf) leaves the audience feeling a mixture of pity and defiance as we see him presented in this instance as the victim, whilst never wholly denying nor confirming Paulina’s story. A very difficult and complex character who Calf tackles with ease.

Death and the Maiden is an intense play that looks at politics, madness, abuse and deceit, and with no interval, it mustn’t be approached lightly. However, it is a piece of political drama that highlights the importance of justice and the things that go unseen - possibly just as important today as when it was first produced twenty years ago.