Last Tuesday I went to see the play "Pedro de Valdivia", about Chile's first Governor. I had an impression that, because the play was historical, it was going to be either a dramatic or a dull play. I was proven to be wrong. It was a comic approach to Pedro de Validivia's life as governor of Chile.

When the play started, the actors started telling a story while playing instruments and singing, and throughout the play there would be many of these musical bits. The actors were filled with energy, and the play was always on movement, due to a kind of slapstick comedy, it was a very basic and dynamic style of acting. The play told the story of how Pedro de Valdivia went to Chile after Pizarro gave him authority to conquer, and when Pizarro died, Pedro de Valdivia became governor of Chile, and how there were many unsuccessful campaigns against the Mapuche people, which were Chile's natives, which then after some years resulted in his death.

Even if the costumes didn't change, the roles did. At some points Pedro de Valdivia was played by the different actors, because someone else was narrating the story. Something very interesting was the use of the puppet to represent Pedro while the actor was performing the same movements on-stage, it created a nice effect. There were many transitions between characters, they had to adapt a multi-character story to a three man stage. In terms of the acting, it was quite good, as mentioned before the transitions between characters were all smooth, and in no part of the story did I confuse a character for another, thus they were well executed. The actions were quite big, as if it was directed to a much younger audience, child play alike, making everything really obvious and easy to understand. The comedy bits were all over the place, every once in a while a joke would emerge, and these little jokes started bringing the audience closer to the actors, as if the imaginary barrier became thinner, like when at the beginning a cellphone sound is played and an actor makes as if he's answering the phone.

Having read a little about Pedro de Valdivia and his campaigns, the story was far from comedic, there were bloody wars because of religious and cultural oppression, betrayal and suffering. Yet I still think the play was effective because it told an adapted, but not un-true version of the facts that happened.

Can one actor play many several characters without the use of a narrator or any aiding media like audio clips?