Every now and then, something happens at the theater—a line of dialogue, an image, a bit of stage business—that makes you think, “What I’m seeing here reminds me of . . . .” Fill in the blank. While watching Signature Theatre’s affecting production of Kiss of the Spider Woman, I became mesmerized by the silhouette of a prisoner with a bucket on his head. He had been tortured—offstage, thankfully.

The setting, according to the program, is “a prison in Latin America sometime in the recent past.” A repressive regime has imprisoned Molina, a très gay window dresser obsessed with a movie actress named Aurora, and Valentin, a muy macho Marxist who reluctantly admits that his girlfriend is a member in good standing of the bourgeoisie—she even drives a Mercedes. As cellmates, they have much to learn about each other and about a love that requires patience and sacrifice.

See the full theater review here.