Laughs In Spanglish
Review of Laughs in Spanish at Seattle Repertory Theatre
Written by Triniti Smith during an Arts Criticism workshop at Evergreen High School
Laughs In Spanish tells the story of an art show in Miami as an unexpected turn threatens to derail the whole show. While the show has this mysterious turn, it also highlights themes such as family relationships, romance, parenthood, marriage, and real-world themes often faced in today's society.
Overall, Laughs in Spanish was a mixture of comedic and serious, with lots of plot twists, shocks, and even hidden romance. Although the play did fall short in the opening music and the language department, the play was still an enjoyable experience.
Although there were numerous subplots and fast-paced storytelling, such as Estella identifying Juan as the art thief, while the play moves quickly, this scene seems unnecessary and adds no new information to the play. Nevertheless, the story is still easy for me as the audience to understand and follow along as the play progresses. However, some audience members may feel that all the plot scenes are confusing and have trouble fully comprehending the complex storyline.
Another aspect where the play seemed to fall short was its language. While the dialogue was humorous, the frequent use of foul language in conversations, such as when Mariana is giving her statement to Juan, who is taking notes, her use of strong language- phrases, such as " f***** cono mother f***** f***er punta b***** whore dios mio f*****" may deter some audience members from enjoying the play and question whether or not this is appropriate for the intended audience group. However, some may argue that foul language coincides with the intended audience and makes the play more adult and relatable.
Understandably, the opening music is tied to the character development of Mariana seen as the music starts to tie into Marianna as she begins letting her guard down the music is more upbeat and gives off dancing feelings towards the audience However, the vision of the chosen opening music is unclear, and felt it as it had no connection to the development of the main character Mariana.
Overall, the value of the play “Laughs In Spanish” is a well-written play with lots of real-world connections and issues, while adding plot twists. I recommend a mature adult audience watch this play when going to see this.
Lead photo: Diana Burbano in Laughs in Spanish (2025). Costume Design by Danielle Nieves. Photo by Sayed Alamy.
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This review was written as part of an Arts Criticism workshop at Evergreen High School in Jim Mackerras' Language Arts classes, taught by Press Corps teaching artist Ayo Tushinde. This program is supported, in part, by a grant from the Washington State Arts Commission.
