Pamela Rabe in 'Visions'
Adolf Hitler was one. So was Mussolini .. Amin .. Gaddafi-.. Marcos. There are very few countries that have not lived under the rule of such dictators: men of evil, of fervor, of blind vision. Louis Nowra’s provocative drama ‘Visions’ examines the mind and motives of one such dictator. It is Paraguay of the 1860s, yet ‘Visions’ is a story from another land and time that is still repeated today.
Francesco Lopez has taken power. Standing behind him, his newly arrived Parisian wife … her shallow sophistica-tion and insolent disregard for any values but her own dovetailing with Lopez’s savage ambitions.
It is the most challenging time in the country’s history. Paraguay faces the armed might of the Triple Alliance. Lopez dreams of battles yet to be fought, already glorying in his imagined victories. His wife, Madame Lynch, creates a round of masked balls and tea parties, a vista of half built monuments to culture. A piece of Paris in Paraguay. The incongruity is lost on her. Her fight is for the social soul of society.
In their midst is the catalyst for their grandiose dreams. Juana. A woman of visions … who cannot see.
