THEATRE-LATIN AMERICA:
Cuba Hosts Tradition and Modernity

Patricia Grogg


HAVANA, (IPS) - ”Theatre May”, convened by the governmental Casa de las Am?ricas cultural centre, has reaffirmed Cuba as an atypical forum, with the tradition and modernity of the Latin American stage, drawing a dozen theatre troupes from across the region.

The organisers usually put together a programme that alternates between well-known Latin American and Caribbean figures and new talent, who find in Cuba a platform to potentially launch international careers.

The fifth edition of this event, May 7-16, was attended by groups from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico, alongside local theatre companies, receiving prizes awarded by a panel of critics -- and maintaining a dialogue about what is going on in the Latin American theatre world.

For Nara Manzur, an expert in scenery arts and member of the organising team for Casa de las Americas, the aim is to present ”a combination of the past, tradition and novelty,” as well as theatre that cuts across genres, like cabaret, performance and installation art.

Manzur appreciates this event as a ”small format” festival that is conceived with a rigorous programme.

”Theatre May” is a Latin American and Caribbean theatre season that is halfway between the major international festivals, like those held regularly in Caracas, Buenos Aires or Bogota, and alternative events that take place in the community.

The 10-day encounter harkens back to the theatre festivals that Casa de las Americas organised in the 1960s, when representatives of an art founded in resistance and social commitment converged on Cuba, bringing with them intellectuals from around the world.

Manzur told IPS that this year's Theatre May was a challenge because of economic difficulties, which were ultimately overcome thanks to the Casa and to the contributions of other institutions, including the foreign ministries of Argentina and Colombia.

Among this year's guests were Brazilian director and playwright Antunes Filho and his group Macunaima, the Matancadelas troupe from Colombia, actor and author Eduardo Pavlovsky and director Daniel Veronese, both from Argentina.

Antunes Filho is searching for an approach to theatre that is less superficial, less trendy and with greater dramatic and interpretive density. Last week he received the Gallo of Havana, the prize instituted in 1966 by the Casa de las Americas.

Pavlovsky, loved by critics as one of the major dramatists of recent years, presented ”Potestad” and ”The Death of Marguerite Duras”, the latter being an intense monologue about memory.

The Argentine has been described as an unequalled actor who seduces his audiences and turns what he touches into unique dramatic jewels. He is also the founder of the Psychodramatic Movement in Latin America.

Rounding out the programme were six Cuban shows, by the Esambray Theatre, the Hubert de Blanck Company, Contemporary Dance of Cuba, the Santa Clara Theatre Studio, Icar?n Theatre and actress Daisy Granados.

Granados, often referred to as ”the face of Cuban film” after participating in movie classics over the past four decades, presented the monologue, ”Diatribe of love against a seated man”, the only theatre piece by Colombian Nobel Literature laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

”Diatribe”, a reflection on couplehood, created in 1987, was adapted by filmmaker Pastor Vega, Granados's husband, incorporating elements from other genres, like musicals, and a pulsating pace.

One of the most successful shows in the early days of Theatre May was ”Arquetipas” (Archetypes), by Mexican Jesusa Rodriguez and Argentine Liliana Felipe -- a political cabaret that was a novelty in socialist-run Cuba.

The authors splashed the Havana stage with humorous jabs about the recent diplomatic tussle between Mexico and Cuba, U.S. relations with Latin America, and aspects of daily life on this Caribbean island.

Casa de las Americas also organised three workshops in conjunction with visiting artists, dedicated to visual and audio conflicts on stage, performance art and, of course, political cabaret.

Tributes this year went to Uruguayan maestro Atahualpa del Cioppo (1904-1993) and the 40-year anniversary of the Latin American theatre journal Conjunto, the oldest in the region, founded by Guatemalan Manuel Galich.

Theatre May took place on six Havana stages and in three provincial capitals, with admissions to the shows kept at a modest price -- five tickets for a dollar -- in keeping with the Cuban population's buying power.