Word: atahuallpa
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...admirably throughout the production. He is a thoroughly human Pizarro--cynical, yet not a stranger to hope. He is authoritative but quick to praise his men. And Ducey successfully captures the complex contradictions inherent in his character--while Pizarro has genuine respect and love for the Incan god incarnate, Atahuallpa, he is aware of his duty to the Spanish crown and church...
...dynamics between Pizarro and Incan ruler Atahuallpa (Alex Pak), for example, are wonderful. The two gradually learn to interact as equals who allow free rein to their mutual fascination. Atahuallpa and Pizarro strike up a humorous, thought-provoking dialogue in the midst of adversity. While Atahuallpa is held prisoner by the Spaniards in his own palace, he jokes with Pizarro, "Your pope is mad, he gives away countries that are not his." Later, he quips of transubstantiation, "First [Christ] becomes a biscuit and then they eat him and then they drink his blood...
This phase of Shaffer's career began with The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1964). In that play, Atahuallpa, who is both emperor and god of the Incas, is executed by the order of Pizarro, the Spanish conquistador. The most desolating moment of the play comes when Pizarro, who has lost faith in the Christian God, hopes against hope that Atahuallpa will be resurrected before his eyes. He is not. In Equus (1973), a boy blinds horses because he believes them to be gods who have witnessed his sinful transgressions. He duels with a psychoanalyst. Decrying his own dried...
...mask drama ever since he wrote The Royal Hunt of the Sun, about the conquistador Pizarro in Peru. At his suggestion, Inca funeral masks were worn by the Indians in the last act. "Nobody could think how they should look during Pizarro's speech over the corpse of Atahuallpa," explained Shaffer. "I thought of the masks...
...Screenwriter Philip Yordan tells it, obsessed by his own bastardy. As in the case of T. E. Lawrence of Arabia, the burden of his illegitimacy weighed so heavily that it drove him to deeds of improbable and even reckless heroism. In the bizarre personage of King Atahuallpa (Christopher Plummer) Pizarro encounters a man of his own kind, an implacable and almost superhuman force. Atahuallpa gives short shrift to the rabid Catholic missionaries in Pizarro's party and, looking into the explorer's eyes, says tellingly: "Their God is not in your face." Replies Pizarro: "I see my father...