The Impossible Dream

Man of LaMancha closed another outstanding season for the Iberia Performing Arts League. Their spring selection is an adaptation of Don Quixote, a pioneering work of literature written in the late sixteenth century by Miguel de Cervantes. Thanks to Monty Python’s wit and satire, we have learned to laugh at the brutality sanctioned by monarchs and Popes across Europe during the Spanish Inquisition; and local actors Vince Barras and Will Grubbs reliably delivered the punctuated laughter that lightened moments of darkness and despair with their comedic talent. It is my goal to linger for a moment in the seriousness of this play, and to refocus on the social context of another brilliant performance by IPAL. This timeless work, when seen through a broader lens, can hold up a mirror for its audience to gaze upon its own reflected identity with fresh eyes. Man of LaMancha teaches New Iberia as much about our origins as a Spanish colony as it does about lingering questions concerning human dignity, justice, and liberation. To more closely examine these lessons, I will focus on the setting, technique, and themes of the play as they relate to society and culture in both La Mancha and da Berry.

Setting: Historical Context

The story takes place in Central Spain during the late sixteenth century in which the Holy Roman Empire-- the marriage of Catholicism and European expansion-- established tribunals to seek out, persecute, and eradicate threats to their hegemony. Throughout this era of conquest on the Iberian Peninsula, the Spanish Royalty sanctioned the torture, rape, and death of heretics while burning many of the great works of Spanish literature. It clearly was not good to be named a heretic, mostly because its legal definition changed according to the whims of the priestly elites; for example, just being a “superstitious” (or to use the more modern term “intuitive”) woman was enough to be found guilty of witchcraft, then raped and burned alive.

Concurrently, the same Spanish Monarchs who commissioned the Inquisition were expanding westward across the Atlantic. They hired conquistadors in the late 1400s (including the notorious Christopher Columbus) to find alternate trade routes while spreading Catholicism as a theocratic system of governance. By the 1600s there were Spanish settlements and colonies throughout the Western Hemisphere. One of them started out where Darby Lane meets Jane Street and became Nueva Iberia. The Spanish climbed out of the water near the bend at Bayou Teche, found where the land was highest and grew hemp and flax there. Any gold they found or stole returned immediately to Spain. Early colonists were granted land and relative autonomy, but remained indebted to the crown as the colony passed from Spanish to French to American ownership.

Clearly then, the Spanish Inquisition, also known as the Dark Age, was not a time of profound creativity. Much like now, it wasn’t a time when people felt like they could talk openly about politics or religion. They didn’t really feel like they could express themselves and explore different ways of thinking. Much like today, people limit the depths of their humanity. It wasn’t a good social climate for artists, women, Jews, Muslims, writers (not even religious writers), musicians, or laborers. Really, the only people who had it well during this time were the Spanish Royalty, and even they were taking a lot of heat from the Pope to maintain Catholic orthodoxy over Europe so that the church coffers would remain full. Man of LaMancha is set in a closed society in which most people lived in constant fear of being ostracized by a small group of extremely wealthy and powerful men.

The inquisition lasted until the 1800s, but colonialism endured throughout the twentieth century. New Iberia's history is a product of both of these powerful global forces and the themes present in Man of LaMancha resonate deeply with the experiences of creative individuals living in this former Spanish colony.

Technique and Themes

Cervantes, in dreaming the impossible dream, dared to be virtuous in a world of corruption. This play reveals several struggles that color the way we navigate these powerful global forces. Foremost, the play's storytelling technique enhances the dreamlike qualities of the narrative by blurring the lines that generally separate fantasy from reality, identity from social constructs, and oppression from liberation. This dissolution is accomplished by locating a play within the play. In so doing, the audience is allowed to inhabit the blurriness of the human condition and to explore the deeper themes of the story. Throughout this play, we take a journey with Don Quixote, also known as “the Mad Knight” to examine the power of our own imaginations.

First, Man of LaMancha’s Don Quixote, played by Lynn Derouen, journeys into a world of fantasy in which the protagonist can feel safe enough to transform his own identity and confront the villains who have unjustly thrown him into prison. Accused of levying a tax against the church, his only crime is in supposing, perhaps naively, that the church would be subject to the laws of the state. He treated the institution of Catholicism in the same way he would treat any other person or institution, and in so doing, was deemed a heretic.

As shocking as this story may seem, it might help to remember that even at this very moment, the Catholic Church has not prosecuted many allegations of injustice-- most notably, concerning the sexual abuse of women and children. Recently a Pope has resigned in the face of waning institutional legitimacy following the onslaught of investigations targeting the highest levels of the Catholic hierarchy. A new Pope, promising reform, is being called upon to submit to the authority of man's laws. Clearly, this conflict between church and state persists at the highest levels of human affairs. Moreover, being caught between man's laws and God's laws, much as Don Quixote is, exposes both the frailty and durability of the human spirit in navigating his or her own path to an authentic life. In blurring the lines between fantasy and reality, the mad knight acquires the freedom to seek and face justice as an authentic, expressive, and fully realized human being. Thus, the creative power of the individual to shape his or her own reality emerges as a powerful challenge to those who wish to control others for their own benefit.

Second, the play provides insights as to how quickly people can adapt to new and changing expectations. When Cervantes assigns other prisoners roles in his fantasy, the imaginative energy overtakes them and they become those people. Most notably, Don Quixote integrates the character of Aldonza, played by Katelyn Stelly, into his fantasy by giving her the name of the much admired Lady Dulcinea. Aldonza is a beautiful woman who is beaten and raped during the play. Don Quixote offers her salvation by treating her with respect and dignity, and through his rose-tinted lenses, Aldonza evolves into an empowered human being. Thus, not only does the individual have creative power to transform his or her own reality, but in so doing, s/he has the power to shape the way that other individuals perceive themselves.

The fully revealed paradox is that during Don Quixote’s descent into madness, he shines the light for others to find their way out of the Dark Age oppressiveness. In opening his mind and seeking truth and wisdom, the play’s protagonist renders himself vulnerable to those seeking to close it. He remains luminous, chivalrous and courageous even as he confronts his own death.

Deeper Implications

In many ways, I find these themes to be very applicable to the cultural undertones present in our community and am very interested in soliciting reactions and responses to the following questions.

In what ways do we seek to distance ourselves from people who are not like us? Who aren’t from around here, who don’t talk like we do, who don’t have the same skin color as us, who aren’t the same religion as us, who don’t have the same political beliefs as us? Further, do we see any evidence around us as to how this social exclusion works against the interests of New Iberia residents?

Pretend for a few minutes that the main character is Donna Quixote, a formidable yet eccentric woman searching for spiritual truth and freedom. Forget that women in Spain during the 1500s were kept illiterate, bought sold and used as property, demonized as witches, and generally tended not to become celebrated authors (also still painfully true but to a lesser degree). Do you think her character would've been capable of restoring the dignity of a (morally, spiritually, economically) destitute man who captured her fancy through the mere power of suggestion? Could a woman call a man by another name and unlock him from his mental tethers? Do you think her madness and idealism might have been interpreted not as a quest for chivalry, but perhaps in another, more degrading way?

Why do we generally dismiss idealism and fantasy instead of seeing it as part of a greater balance within the human condition? No objective measurement ranks creativity, and there’s no guarantee that being creative or positive will lead to a better life. We tend to focus on numbers such as test scores, income, and property values to determine our community’s quality of life, but we pay little mind to the more abstract motivations that compose a successful life. As a community, do we support a balanced sense of self that includes both free expression and financial independence?

Cervantes' “Mad Knight” reminds us of the absence of guarantees in life, except for the promises one makes him or herself. Don Quixote wasn’t killed because he saw the world as it could be and pursued it; he died because the church and state were corrupt. If we follow the wisdom from Man of LaMancha and embrace the teachings of a great literary mind, we discover that the core of humanity exists in our eternal quest against overwhelming odds to make tangible the impossible dream.