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Theater History
In 1783 the first House of Comedy was created; the promoter of this enterprise
was the Viceroy of Lights, as Viceroy Vértiz was called. The La Ranchería
Theater was burnt down in a fire in 1792. Three years before, Siripo, by Manuel
José de Lavardén had been premiered there. It is regarded as the
first play by a local playwright. Four years after the fire of La Ranchería,
a new theater was inaugurated, the Coliseo Provisional, which was considered
the theater of the revolution, due perhaps to the closeness of the coming revolution
of May, 1810. In that theater, El detalle de la acción de Maipú
(The detail of the battle of Maipú) was premiered.
The author of this play, which skillfully depicted popular customs, remains
unknown. Later on, El hipócrita político (The Hypocritical Politician)
was on stage, only the initial letters of its author being known; it was an
urban comedy, which reflected the Buenos Aires home of the period. In the same
theater, Túpac Amaru (or The revolution of Túpac Amaru), a tragedy
written in verse which is an account of the Indian revolution which took place
in 1780 in Tungasuka, Peru. In 1884, Juan Moreira, a gauchesco drama, appeared
in the form of a pantomime within the circus. This feuilleton by Eduardo Gutiérrez,
which was published in a Buenos Aires newspaper, was the basis of the first
play of gauchesco drama, which was later completed with texts drawn from the
novel (1886).
This cycle was closed in 1896, with the premiere of Calandria by Martiniano
Leguizamón. By that time, Buenos Aires accommodated a large number of
immigrants who arrived in this land in search of a better life. With them and
through the Spanish branch, there came the sainete (one-act farce), theatrical
style which gave rise to the sainete criollo. At that time, there emerged a
group of playwrights who adhered to this style. They told about life in the
conventillos (overcrowded tenement houses), in the streets and cafes. Among
them, we can mention Roberto L. Cayol, Carlos M. Pacheco, José González
Castillo, Alberto Novión and Alberto Vacarezza.
As from the early 20th century the theatrical activity was intense. Different
companies premiered a large number of plays giving rise to the Golden Age. Florencio
Sánchez, Gregorio de Laferrere and Roberto J. Payró gave the activity
an uncommon creativity.
All the styles appeared one by one: the sainete criollo, gauchesco, the comedy
of manners; and they reach its highest peak with Armando Discépolo. It
was a thirty-year period of numerous dramatists and performers. In 1930, the
foundation of the Theater of the People gave rise to the Independent Theater,
an artistic movement seeking to fight against commercial theater.
As a part of this process quite a few new playwrights emerged, giving dramatic
expression a formerly unseen style. We can mention some of them as an example:
Aurelio Ferreti, Carlos Gorostiza, Osvaldo Dragún, Andrés Lizarraga
and Agustín Cuzzani.
As a consequence of this movement, three separate lines appeared in the 1930s.
The first one, known as social realism, is reflected in Soledad para cuatro
(Loneliness for Four) by Ricardo Halac, Nuestro fin de semana (Our Weekend)
and Los días de Julián Bisbal (Julián Bisbal's days) by
Roberto Cossa.
The second line, influenced by Ionesco's and Beckett's plays, has some exponents
as Eduardo Pavlosky and Griselda Gambaro, who jointly wrote El desatino (The
Nonsense) and then separately, she wrote Los siameses (The Siamese Twins) whereas
he wrote Espera Trágica (Tragic Expectancy) and El señor Galíndez
(Mr. Galíndez).
The third and last of these divisions comes from grotesque, with tragicomic
characters. La fiaca (Languor) by Ricardo Talesnik (1967) and La valija (The
Suitcase) by Julio Mauricio (1968) are two characteristic examples of this style.
In 1980, when the military government started to loosen the pressures exerted,
playwrights such as Carlos Gorostiza, Osvaldo Dragún, Roberto Cossa and
Carlos Somigliana, who in turn counted on the support from other playwrights
and other theater people, initiated the performances of Teatro Abierto (Open
Theater).
Teatro Abierto started its activities on July, 28, 1981. This move achieved
a degree of continuity and in 1982, new dramatists, directors and actors were
added.
Nowadays, theater is an activity with a normal development. During the weekends,
in Buenos Aires there are about 80 shows staged in different theaters.
The theatrical activity developed inland is also remarkable, in cities such
as Córdoba, Tucumán, Santa Fe, Rosario, La Plata, Mendoza, Mar
del Plata, etc. On the other hand, new dramatists emerged recently: Carlos Pais,
Mauricio Kartun, Daniel Veronese, Enrique Morales, Eduardo Rovner and Roberto
Perinelli are only some of them.
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