In commemoration of the Fourth Centennial of Calderón de la Barca, the most important Spanish playright, justly hailed by many international critics as “the Spanish Shakespeare,” Thalia Spanish Theater presents the Bilingual Production of The Great Theater of the Word/El gran teatro del mundo, produced and directed by Angel Gil Orríos.
The cast is composed of seven extraordinary Hispanic actors: Soledad López, Premier Solís, César Oliva, Jannette Clemenceau, Jennifer Capriccio, Alex dek Romero, Francisco Díaz.
The original 1982 Spanish production, adapted and directed by Angel Gil Orríos (for the Royal Theatre of Spain,) premiered at La Casa de España in New York and was invited for a special presentation at the United Nations. It was a great success and was selected to represent the United States in the VII International Classic Theater Festival in almagro, Spain, where it played to sold-out houses.
Gil Orríos became the new Artistic Director of Thalia Spanish Theatre in January 2000, succeeding the founder Silvia Brito, who retired on December 1999 after 23 years of extraordinary work. Thalia has steadily become the Meca of Hispanic Theatre in New York, preserving Spanish and Latin American culture, and has won more than 80 awards for artistic excellence.
The Great Theatre of the World/El gran teatro del mundo is a magnificent spectacle for everyone in which the archetypes of society: the King, the Rich Man, the Poor Man, the Peasant, Beauty and Discretion, play their parts in the World. A metaphor of life as theater, in which we all play, badly or well, the role that the author has intended. The production is very visual, combining masks and live music. Young and adult audiences will certainly treasure Calderón,s contemporary social meaning.
The bilingual production is sponsored by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Culture, and the New York State Council of the Arts (NYSCA) among others, and has received the Cultural Challenge Award by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA).
The show runs until November 5. For information, call (718) 729-3880.

BRIDGE: Help his majesty

Julian Laderman

Throughout history, one of the most difficult problems faced by civilizations has been whether to have a monarchy or not. What is the value of having a king or a queen? This same essential question has been asked by bridge players trying to evaluate their hands. The king is the bridge card that is the hardest to judge. If the defender sitting behind your king holds the ace, and if you have no cards in the suit to promote, the king may have no more value than a lowly deuce.
On the illustrated hand, North had no problem raising to 2H with 8 high card points and three hearts. If West had not doubled, North should respond 1S in an attempt to find a 4-4 spade fit. However since West did double, West is likely to hold four spades, so even if North-South can find a 4-4 spade fit, they will probably encounter a bad trump break.
North’s two kings looked very valuable during the bidding since West had doubled and East had passed. Therefore, if the defense holds the ace of spades or the ace of clubs they are probably held by West.
Once declarer sees the dummy and the opening lead he realizes the king of clubs is very useful but the king of spades is poorly placed. West’s lead would tend to indicate that East holds the spade ace, and since neither declarer nor dummy has any cards in the suit to promote, at first glance the spade king appears worthless. Declarer must not play the king in desperation, hoping that West led the spade queen while holding the spade ace. Declarer should play the spade 2 from dummy and concede the first trick to West. If West continues with the spade jack, declarer must remain patient and play the spade 3 from dummy. Assume West now shifts to a club. South can win with the club ace, pull the defenders’ trump cards in three rounds, winning the third round in dummy. Declarer can now play the 4 of spades and have the pleasure of trumping East’s spade ace. Eventually declarer can enter dummy with the club king and discard a small club on the spade king. The 2H contract is successful.

DEALER : NORTH
East-West is vulnerable

West North East South
---- Pass Pass 1H
Double 2H Pass Pass
Pass

Opening lead: spade queen

If West had led spades on the first three rounds, declarer would have had to play a small card from dummy on all three rounds. The third trick would be ruffed by declarer. This would establish the spade king and the contract would succeed.
If the defense had shifted after the first round of spades, declarer would have had to attack spades before pulling three rounds of trump in order to use the trump suit for an entry to dummy to establish the spade king.
If the defense had attacked clubs before spades the declarer would have not had the timing to set up the spade king for a club discard. The contract would have been set since the defense would have taken six tricks: three diamonds, one club, and two spades.
One might feel declarer was very fortunate that West started with four spades and East with three spades including the ace. Actually this holding can be anticipated from the bidding and the opening lead which placed the spade ace with East. Realizing that West would have overcalled 1S had he held five or more spades, declarer should expect West to have at most four spades. Since after the double, East would have bid 2S had he held four spades with the ace, East has at most three spades. Therefore, declarer can expect the seven spades held by the defense to be divided as follows: four with West and three with East. If the defense says declarer was lucky, he can point out why he anticipated the ace to fall and gain their respect; at least as a bridge player.
Don’t let the defense turn your king into a deuce. Fight off an attack on your king.

answers to puzzle

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