Memory, Allegory, and Testimony in South American Theater: Upstaging Dictatorship (Routledge Advances in Theatre and Performance Studies)

297 Pages·2008·3.84 MB·English

by  Ana Elena Puga

Memory, Allegory, and
Testimony in South
American Theater
Routledge Advances in Theatre
and Performance Studies
1. Theatre and Postcolonial Desires
Awam Amkpa
2. Brecht and Critical Theory
Dialectics and Contemporary Aesthetics
Sean Carney
3. Science and the Stanislavsky
Tradition of Acting
Jonathan Pitches
4. Performance and Cognition
Theatre Studies after the Cognitive Turn
Edited by Bruce McConachie and
F. Elizabeth Hart
5. Theatre and Performance in
Digital Culture
From Simulation to Embeddedness
Matthew Causey
6. The Politics of New Media Theatre
Life®™
Gabriella Giannachi
7. Ritual and Event
Interdisciplinary Perspectives
Edited by Mark Franko
8. Memory, Allegory, and Testimony
in South American Theater
Upstaging Dictatorship
Ana Elena Puga
Memory, Allegory, and
Testimony in South
American Theater
Upstaging Dictatorship
Ana Elena Puga
New York London
First published 2008
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
© 2008 Taylor & Francis
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereaf-
ter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trade-
marks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Puga, Ana Elena.
Memory, allegory, and testimony in South American theater : upstaging dictatorship /
by Ana Elena Puga.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-415-96119-6
ISBN-10: 0-415-96119-X
ISBN-13: 978-0-203-89554-2
ISBN-10: 0-203-89554-1
1. Theater—Political aspects—South America. 2. Theater--South America—History—
20th century. I. Title.
PN2445.P84 2008
792.098'0904—dc22
2007049009
Portions of Chapter One were previously published in the Latin American Theatre
Review. Portions of Chapter Three were previously published in Theater Journal. Portions
of Chapter Four were previously in my introduction to Finished from the Start and Other
Plays by Juan Radrigán, published by Northwestern University Press.
ISBN 0-203-89554-1 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN10: 0-415-96119-X (hbk)
ISBN10: 0-203-89554-1 (ebk)
ISBN13: 978-0-415-96119-6 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-203-89554-2 (ebk)
Contents
List of Figures vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1 Carlos Manuel Varela and the Duty to Remember 17
2 Boal and Guarnieri: Historical Allegory and the Duty to Inspire 68
3 Griselda Gambaro: Abstract Allegory and the Duty to Conceal 138
4 Juan Radrigán and the Duty to Tell 194
Epilogue 232
Notes 241
References 259
Index 277

List of Figures
0.1 Eles não usam black-tie— São Paulo. 115
1.1 Alfonso y Clotilde—Montevideo. 115
1.2 Cuentos del Final—one. 116
1.3 Cuentos del Final—two. 117
1.4 Palabras en la Arena. 118
1.5 Elsinore—Eslabon—one. 119
1.6 Elsinore—Eslabon—two. 120
1.7 Crónica. 121
2.1 Arena conta Zumbi—one. 122
2.2 Arena conta Zumbi—two. 122
2.3 Arena conta Zumbi—three. 123
2.4 Arena conta Tiradentes—one. 123
2.5 Arena conta Tiradentes—two. 124
2.6 Program for Revolução na América do sul. 125
2.7 Teatro de Arena, São Paulo. 126
3.1 La malasangre poster. 127
3.2 La malasangre poster. 128
3.3 Antígona—one. 129
3.4 Antígona—two. 130
3.5 Antígona —three. 131
3.6 Antígona—four. 132
4.1 La contienda humana. 133
viii List of Figures
4.2 Las Brutas—one. 133
4.3 Las Brutas—two. 134
4.4 Hechos consumados—one. 134
4.5 Hechos consumados—two. 135
4.6 Pueblo del mal amor. 136
5.1 Alfonso y Clotilde (Italy)—one. 136
5.2 Alfonso y Clotilde (Italy)—two. 137
5.3 La malasangre (Repertorio Español, New York). 137
Acknowledgments
The playwrights I write about here were also my teachers, guiding me
through a labyrinth of material, introducing me to other theater people
in their countries, and responding to my endless questions with patience
and kindness.
In Uruguay, Carlos Manuel Varela introduced me to several key sources
and opened his personal telephone book to me, leading me to many people
who went out of their way to further my research. Theater scholar Roger
Mirza, set designer Carlos Pirelli, director Marcelino Duffau, and the staff
at the Comedia Nacional were exceptionally helpful.
Marcelo Marchese, owner of the fabulous Babilonia used bookstore,
1591 Tristán Narvaja in Montevideo, tracked down all sorts of useful
materials for me and proffered his own memories of dictatorship.
In Brazil, unfortunately, Gianfrancesco Guarnieri died before I could
meet him, but his wife Vânya Sant’Anna gave me a sense of the theater
person, political activist, writer, and performer that he was. Guarnieri’s
collaborator on Arena conta Zumbi and Arena conta Tiradentes, Augusto
Boal, very kindly responded to e-mail questions.
During my very fi rst interview in São Paulo, with Izaías Almada and
Marília Medalha, Bernadette Figueiredo not only interpreted, but she
also lent me her tape recorder when mine broke down. Izaías gave some
extremely helpful suggestions for further research; Bernadette put me in
touch with another interpreter who became a buddy and intrepid guide to
São Paulo, Juliana Fagundes.
Besides sharing his detailed recollections of his performances with
Teatro Arena, David José Lessa took me to the theater building, which still
stands in São Paulo, and helped me imagine the neighborhood as it was for
the many students who lived and worked there during the 1960s.
Historian and friend Silvia Hunold Lara, of the State University of
Campinas, very usefully commented on the Zumbi and Tiradentes sections
of Chapter 2, suggesting some further readings that led me to reshape and
refi ne my arguments.