El Pasado Es un Animal Grotesco (The Past Is a Grotesque Animal)

The revolving stage turns slowly but constantly, an apt metaphor for the relentless passage of time portrayed in “El Pasado Es un Animal Grotesco (The Past Is a Grotesque Animal).” This production from Argentina—written and directed by Mariano Pensotti and performed in Spanish—depicts the event-filled, rarely intersecting lives of four young people from Buenos Aires across 10 years, from 1999 to 2009. As the play ends, some of these people, in tune with the title, look back on their past with a sense of unreality, surprised or disbelieving that that is who they were. Their stories are told in highly novelistic fashion; in fact, most of the play consists of omniscient third-person narration. The four actors trade off the large chunks of literate exposition when not playing dozens of characters in the script’s fragmented scenes, often enacted with muted dialogue or in pantomime under the narration.

The show sometimes gives the impression that it’s a smartly written audio book being read by very engaged readers, but the big problem, for those not proficient in Spanish, is that it is in Spanish. English translations are displayed on screens at both ends of the stage, and there are lots of words to plow through. As one audience member complained at the end of the show, you have to choose between reading the subtitles and watching the stage.

And there’s a lot to watch on stage. The actors—Pilar Gamboa, Javier Lorenzo, Juan Minujin, and Maria Ines Sancerni—give marathon performances. They might wind up a long memorized section of complex narration and walk straight into another scene, as the revolve turns, to participate in a hectic party or a bit of lovemaking. It’s actor legerdemain of a high order.

Pensotti weaves stories that are laced with an inviting humor as well as references to contemporary events of the era. The most imaginative tale is probably that of Pablo, a business executive whose career is on the rise but whose inner life is dominated by the severed hand he found left at his door one morning. There’s also Laura, a bohemian wannabe, who steals her family’s savings for a disappointing trip to Paris and returns to Argentina to work in a “Holy Land” theme park, falling in love with a Palestinian immigrant playing Jesus. Mariana Tirantte’s minimal but ever-changing sets occupying the four playing spaces marked out on the turntable along with the lighting by Matias Sendon and Ricardo Sica heighten Pensotti’s storytelling.

Presented by Performance Space 122 and the Public Theater as part of the Under the Radar and Coil festivals at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette St., NYC. Jan. 7–15. Mon., Wed.–Sat., 7 p.m.; Sun.; 2 pm. (212) 967-7555 or www.publictheater.org.