GARBO Review: The Spy Who Fooled the Nazis
Kevin Jorges delivers a first-rate performance in GALA Hispanic Theatre's engaging drama about an extraordinary World War II double agent.
A spy for the Nazis and for the Allies during World War II, Juan Pujol García had to have been a very special special agent. Though he was loyal to the Allied cause, his counterespionage exploits earned him honors from both sides. Decorated with an Iron Cross from Hitler, he was also dubbed a Member of the Order of the British Empire by the King.
As depicted in Gustavo Ott’s engaging new play GARBO, at GALA Hispanic Theatre, Spanish-born Pujol (Kevin Jorges) is a theater artist desperate to put his talents to work fighting fascists. Once in service, the smooth-talker’s skillful lies help save countless lives before he vanishes into postwar anonymity.
He’s only discovered 40 years later, living in Venezuela as a humble shop owner, a grandfather suddenly outed as a notorious double agent to the world, and to his own family, who affectionately consider him “the most boring man on planet Earth.” Little do they know.
Granddad finally coming clean about his past provides the play’s early framing scenes, set in Caracas. Mired by director Carlos Celdrán’s initially static blocking, on Jessica Cancino’s handsome but sparse set, that narrative setup serves as a stodgy intro for what turns out to be a fascinating chapter of little-known history.
Inspired by playwright and activist Federico García Lorca, Pujol wants to save the world through theater. But he doesn’t want to be assassinated by fascists like Lorca, so, as World War II breaks out, he takes another tack. Prodded by his wife Araceli (Clara Navarro, effective in multiple roles), Pujol offers himself to British intelligence to spy against the fascists, but he’s rejected.
Undeterred, he then offers his spy services to the Germans, angling to establish himself on the side of the Nazis, and position himself as a potentially valuable double-agent for the British. The Germans take the bait, enlisting Pujol to cultivate a network of Nazi spies, which, over the course of many tense months, he accomplishes by completely inventing an entire cast of agents and sub-agents.
Pujol makes up agents’ names and backstories, and their detailed (falsified) reports to share with the Third Reich, totally fooling his German handlers. Eventually, his fake but convincing spy network attracts the attention of British intelligence, who bring him on as a counterspy, and the Garbo legend is born.
Ott unfolds the story in succinct, well-paced scenes of embassy meetings and secret spy rendezvous, like Pujol’s first tentative tête-à-tête with German intelligence liaison Federico (Mauricio Gómez Amoretti).
And Celdrán makes better use of the stage — and the fabric backdrop for atmosphere and as a projection screen — once we’re in the thick of the intrigue, and Pujol is spinning impressive stories of his growing spy network to military and intelligence officials on both sides.
While the play doesn’t transmit much of the minute-to-minute peril Pujol faces as an agent stuck between the Nazis and a hard place, it gets across just how vital his role might be in winning the war for the Allies. Yet he’s not presented as an uncomplicated hero.
He’s a confident, cunning liar, a master fabulist living between multiple identities, on opposite sides of a devastating war. Should we even trust this version — his version — of events? Interestingly, for a play heavily invested in how great a liar Pujol is, GARBO doesn’t suggest the audience should doubt his veracity as a historian.
So, as far as this play’s concerned, he’s a reliable narrator, given a warmly sympathetic portrayal by Jorges, who also makes him appealingly down-to-earth. The performance is loose and playful, channeling the script’s dark humor, and avoiding the reasonable urge to emphasize Pujol’s importance in hindsight as the “Spy Who Saved the World.”
Rather, he’s a humble actor determined to play his part, not for accolades or glory, but because he hates fascism and wants to see it defeated. He struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more.
GARBO (★★★☆☆) runs through Sept. 27 at GALA Hispanic Theatre, 3333 14th St. NW. Performances are in Spanish with English surtitles. Tickets are $25 to $60, with discounts for Seniors, Military, Groups 10+, and Patrons Under 25. Call 202-234-7174 or visit galatheatre.org.
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