Review: PEQUEÑAS INFIDELIDADES (LITTLE INFIDELITIES) at Teatro De La Luna

“Pequeñas Infidelidades (Little Infidelidades),” the latest production at the tiny Teatro de La Luna on Georgia Avenue, is a nifty two-hander in which a couple seems to accidentally meet after years apart. Through their banter and barbs we eventually learn the truth behind their past union, their individual paths since and their current intent.

There is some heat between the Guatemalan-born actor Edwin Bernal and the Paraguayan American actress Marcela Ferlito as they embody their stylishly sparring characters Alejandro and Emma. He seems truly surprised to see that she’s the one who’s there to show an apartment he’s seeking, and she does her best to reflect the seeming coincidence.

As they catch up, flirt, test the waters, settle scores and haul out old grievances, the ante rises with the body temperature. There is more to straighten out than their version of past events. It’s not clear whether a bottle of whiskey helps in this endeavor or further blurs it. 

For playwright Mario Diament, a former journalist from Argentina living in Miami, it’s a carefully paced tightrope walk through their back-and-forth. With the snappy repartee of a comedy, they also stab with occasional tough truths. And what is essentially a 75-minute back-and-forth retains its interest by slowly unpeeling the onion of their similarly pungent pairing. 

Mario Marcel, founder of the long running theater that began life in Arlington, directs with an eye to keep things natural in dialog and interesting in physical counterpoints on stage. This is made more difficult by a set (by Marcel with producer Nucky Walder) that is essentially an empty apartment, with a door, two exits and one place to sit. The exits used by the cast to survey the kitchen or the bedroom backfires once late in the show, when the audience misperceives one premature exit as the play’s end. But mostly, everyone is on board with the goings on, the particulars of couple interchange being quite familiar.

Performed entirely in Spanish, the 30-seat storefront theater is accommodating to English-speakers as well, with supertitles (translated by David Bradley) that are sharp, accurate and keep up as the patter speeds by. (The Friday night post-play discussions by various psychologists, educators, poets and social scientists, however, will necessarily go untranslated). 

Running time: 75 minutes, no intermission.

Photo credit: Marcela Ferlito and Edwin Bernal in “Pequeñas Infidelidades” (Small Infidelities).” Photo by Germán Serrano. 

“Pequeñas Infidelidades (Little Infidelidades)” continues through March 17, presented by Teatro de la Luna at Casa de la Luna, 4020 Georgia Ave NW. Tickets at 202-882-6227 or online.

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