The question I had going into seeing Lucha Teotl at the Goodman Theater on Thursday night in Chicago was whether or not the play would be able to pull off treating a wrestling show as a stage performance. After all, pro wrestling IS a stage performance, so the idea of seeing actors play wrestlers, but in a wrestling environment was difficult to grasp.
Lucha Teotl was very fun for myself, my wife, and a full audience of theater fans, but gets a C- grade in accomplishing that goal and addressing a fundamental problem with the show’s concept. Lucha Teotl is an event that’s worth seeing, but not for wrestling fans.
Lucha Teotl transformed the theater into what looked like an upscale independent wrestling promotion on Fite TV. The venue was tremendous with a large stage with lights and a circular Aztec calendar hanging from the ceiling that would assist the show in documenting the passage of time.
The concept of the Lucha Teotl is that the performance is a month’s worth of lucha shows and storylines inside the LTA federation. In the story, an up and coming luchador with family ties to the federation, Huitzi, joins up with Coyol, another generational wrestler with a family lineage in the LTA, to take on the evils of the federation. Huitzi comes from a family of técnicos (babyfaces) and Coyol comes from a family of rudos (heels). Therein lies the conflict throughout the performance. Coyol tries to suppress her inner rudo, while Huitzi works to bring her along to the good side.
The duo successfully tag together until Huitzi interferes in a Coyol match. This enrages Coyol and she fully submits to her rudo family lineage, runs roughshod over the LTA, and injures Huitzi’s leg in a vicious attack. Then? You guessed it. In classic good guy vs. bad guy pro wrestling and lucha libre storytelling, Huitzi makes a grand comeback and defeats Coyol with an adventurous and risky performance as the curtains fall and the show ends.
It’s a classic tale of good vs. evil in a wrestling ring with lucha wrestlers dressed as Aztec gods. Who wouldn’t like that?
As a wrestling fan, I only kind of liked it. Because it was a stage performance about a stage performance, the idea of pro wrestling was neutered in the name of serving an audience of theater fans as opposed to wrestling fans. The storyline was pushed along with dialogue between the wrestlers in the ring with a backdrop of a weekly wrestling show, but caricatured pro wrestling promos and drama in the process.
The ring action was nonexistent of course and while my expectation certainly wasn’t to see classic five star lucha matches, I did expect a more respectful presentation of the matches. Like the dialogue, the matches were overly caricatured and comedic rather than serious to go along with the tone and story of the play. With the physicality of lucha libre such a key part of the art, it was disappointing to see it play out in this fashion.
So, it’s not for wrestling fans. At best, a group of wrestling fans tasked with seeing this show would roll their eyes at the format, cheer and jeer a little at the actors, but then walk out ultimately wishing they had decided to attend an Chicago independent wrestling event instead. At worst, they’d feel like the theater audience was laughing at and disrespecting the art of lucha wrestling and pro wrestling in general.
The theater audience was dazzled by the entrances and the bad ring action, but laughed along with the show rather than invest in the story being told. It’s not that the audience didn’t care about the characters, they did, but they did in a way that was tongue in cheek instead of legitimate interest in the result.
Lucha Teotl is a perfect show for a night out with friends or a date night with your significant other. Treat it as such. Enjoy the show, drink some beer, make a sign before you head into the theater, and scream your heart out for Huitzi. Just don’t walk away thinking it’s a good representation of what professional wrestling and lucha libre is.