In Los Niños Perdidos, Three Boys Speak from the Grave. How Successful Is This Device in Allowing the Play to Raise Questions of Memory for Its Audience?
Memories are powerful. They tell us where we come from, who we are, we learn from them, we tell stories about them, we forget them and we are scarred by them. Los Niños Perdidos by Laila Ripoll uses four young characters to explore the many elements of remembrance and coming to terms with the past. She explores the pains endured by Spain’s generation of “Lost Children”, many of whom are still unsure of their identity, following Spain’s civil war. The 1st April 1939 is the official date that the war ended and as we pass the 70th anniversary since Franco’s insurrection there still has been no official national ceremony to pay respect or even mourn the suffering and loss that occurred during the period.
"Ignoring this reality for longer ... would be unjust and cruel for the victims". Baltasar Gardzon (Spanish High-Court Judge) http://www.expatica.com/es/lifestyle_leisure/news_focus/Where-are-the-_lost-children_-of-the-Franco-regime__13868.html?ppager=2 After announcing his investigation last November, Gardzon earlier this year concede that it would be impossible to charge those responsible for the disappearances of left-wing families’ children, owing to the fact that many of them are dead. Los Niños Perdidos delves into this bitter memory mercilessly; digging up painful yet plausible truths that reflect the many reported accounts of violence, maltreatment, “purification” and murder. Ripoll relies upon the 3 trapped characters: Lazaro, El Marques and Jesusin or El Cucachica (Cuca) to tease out each other’s stories of how they became trapped in a nunnery attic tormented by the blind Sor and the mysterious formless being that lingers outside the door. El Tuso the final character is the symbolic representation of Spain as a nation attempting to revisit it’s past. The author’s decision to present the three boys as dead and trapped in some recess of Tuso’s imagination, as Lazaro says “No existimos ninguno, solo estamos en la cabeza del Tuso.”, creates an idea of
"Ignoring this reality for longer ... would be unjust and cruel for the victims". Baltasar Gardzon (Spanish High-Court Judge) http://www.expatica.com/es/lifestyle_leisure/news_focus/Where-are-the-_lost-children_-of-the-Franco-regime__13868.html?ppager=2 After announcing his investigation last November, Gardzon earlier this year concede that it would be impossible to charge those responsible for the disappearances of left-wing families’ children, owing to the fact that many of them are dead. Los Niños Perdidos delves into this bitter memory mercilessly; digging up painful yet plausible truths that reflect the many reported accounts of violence, maltreatment, “purification” and murder. Ripoll relies upon the 3 trapped characters: Lazaro, El Marques and Jesusin or El Cucachica (Cuca) to tease out each other’s stories of how they became trapped in a nunnery attic tormented by the blind Sor and the mysterious formless being that lingers outside the door. El Tuso the final character is the symbolic representation of Spain as a nation attempting to revisit it’s past. The author’s decision to present the three boys as dead and trapped in some recess of Tuso’s imagination, as Lazaro says “No existimos ninguno, solo estamos en la cabeza del Tuso.”, creates an idea of