Summary Of Tape By Jose Rivera

“Tape,” by José Rivera, is a ten-minute play that includes only two characters and remains notably ambiguous until its end. José Rivera is a Puerto Rican playwright who grew up in a household whose only book was a bible. He uses the dark isolated set of the play to convey his perception of purgatory and the dream like journey of equality one must take to reach heaven. As a reader it is difficult to visualize just where the play is taking place and what exactly it is about. The set is very minimalist,: A small room. No windows. One Door. A person is being led in by an attendant. In the room is a simple wooden table and chair. On the table is a large reel-to-reel tape recorder, a glass of water, and a pitcher of water.
When the play starts off the …show more content…
They make comments such as “dark in here”(1) to show the viewers that the person also notices how dark the set is. The person who has questions with the situation he is in however he is not confused, so he does have some concept of where he is or what he is going to do. The attendant who is almost slavishly hospitable to the person answers any questions the person has. The way the play starts viewers may think the person is awaiting an interview of some sort or perhaps an audition for a movie. However when the person asks questions such as asking if the attendant has “Beer?” (25) it is evident that the person is not as formal as one would assume he would be for an interview. The person shows a lot of interest in the attendant's job, even more interest than the seemingly peculiar scene. It becomes apparent that this is not a normal situation when the person asks if the attendant dreams and his response is