El Loco Ruiz is an Argentinian play from the year 1919, and it was authored by Carlos S. Damel, and Camilo Darthes. The protagonist of the play is Ruiz. The plot of the play highlights an Argentinian malevo (villian), Ruiz, leading a trusting young woman (Luista) into a lifestyle of prostitution. Also, the play contains a rich mixture of culture, such as Italian music and language, and immigrants.
The setting of the play takes places in a living room with mixed furniture, a big chandelier, and a piano. One room leads to a dressing room, as well as a balcony with a railing. There is a sofa. The front of the living room leads to the beginning of a stairway that opens up to the street. It is suggested that the setting of the play takes place at a boarding house in an urban area. Ruiz also lives at the boarding house, and he rents rooms out to other people. The “middle class” appearance of the board house is deceiving, and it enables Ruiz to draw in vulnerable young women such as Lusita into prostitution.
At the beginning of the play, and in later scenes of the play, there are several instances of verbal and physical abuse by Ruiz. At the climax of the play, an unknown woman with a child shows up to the boarding house and asks about Ruiz’s whereabouts. With a sick child in her arms, the women is disappointed about not being able to locate and receive money from the baby’s father (Ruiz). Angelica and Augistina, residents of the boarding house, decide to assist the woman with the baby by sending her money.
Between the use of lunfardo (Regional dialect used in the lower classes of Buenos Aires) and the words and actions of the boarding house’s residents, Ruiz is not able to maintain the middle class boarding house façade. At the end of the play, Ruiz becomes violent when Luista learns the truth (that the boarding house and its residents were part of the lower class), and Angelica pulls back the hammer of a revolver to threaten Ruiz. Luista escapes, and the men from the boarding house hold Ruiz back until Angelica tells them to let Ruiz go. Although Ruiz tried to create a false “middle class” life, the people in the boarding house were lower working-class people who acted in ways that genuinely represented their compassion for one another. Examples include positive relations between Goyo and Angelica, and when Angelica and Augistina gave money to a woman’s sick baby child.
Throughout El Loco Ruiz, there are multiple physical locations that are mentioned and described in the play. Some examples of these places include a pawn shop, a famous theatre, and a textile factory. Along with these landmarks, the economy of the play is evident through direct references to pesos (money) and other material goods. Most importantly, aggressive and abusive gender relations underscore the main theme of the play: Argentinian men luring women into abusive relationships, and leading them into prostitution. Altogether, the interplay of physical locations, economics, gender relations, and historical context signifies urban milieu of Argentina in the year 1919.