Luis Alfaro, The Greek Trilogy of Luis Alfaro. Edited by Rosa Andújar. London: Methuen Drama series, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020, pp. 304.

Abstract

The much-acclaimed and award-winning Griego (‘Greek’) trilogy of Chicanx and Latinx performance artist, playwright, writer and social activist Luis Alfaro is published for the very first time in an edition by Rosa Andujar (King’s College London) for the Methuen Drama series (Bloomsbury, 2020). Equipped with Andujar’s excellent introduction to Alfaro’s work generally and to each adaptation, plus a production history and interview with Alfaro, this book not only makes the scripts of three very successful plays available for the first time for everyone, but also presents a unique and fascinating way of engaging with the ancient Greek dramas of which Alfaro’s plays are adaptations, something that Andujar repeatedly highlights in the introductions. These adaptations, Andujar comments, are already beginning to “chart a new course for the three most popular Greek figures [Electra, Oedipus, Medea] onto the US stage” (6). Keywords: Luis Alfaro; Chicanx; Latinx Theatre; North American Urban Theatre; Greek Tragedy; Greek Tragedy Reception; Electra;  Oedipus; Medea