The Magic Fire
by Red Dragon Players, Austin High School

Oct. 06 - Oct. 16, 2011

The title "The Magic Fire" refers to the circle of fire that the Norse god Wotan erects to shield and entrap Brunnhilde, in Wagner's "Ring" cycle. Otto, patriarch of the Berg-Guarneri family--a clan of Austrian and Italian immigrants living in Peronist Argentina--tells the ring of fire story to his young daughter. Wotan's strategy serves as metaphor for the father's efforts to protectively surround his family in a world of literature, culture and, most of all, opera, sheltering them from the ugly political realities just outside their door. Inevitably, the external world intrudes, primarily in the person of a next-door neighbor who shares the family's love of culture but is also an officer in the oppressive regime.

---

The Magic Fire
by Lillian Groag
Red Dragon Players, Austin High School