Mexico City’s Spring 2016 Theatre Season

Abstract

Mexico City’s Spring 2016 Theatre Season Timothy G. Compton I saw a claim in Mexico City this year that it boasts the third-most theatre of any city in the world, behind only London and New York City. I could not track the methodology behind the claim (most theaters? most performances? most plays performed in a year? most spectators?), nor was I able to find who originally made the claim. Nevertheless, if true it would not surprise me, as Mexico City’s theatre world continues to be vibrant, with hundreds of plays of many varieties performed every week. A diligent theater-goer can find plays every night of the week, while on Saturdays and Sundays, with planning and perseverance, one can see 3-4 per day. Additionally, theatre performances for school audiences happen every week day during much of the school year, and societally edgy theatre can be found all week long during the entire year very late at night. The quality of texts and performances varies wildly, but theatre abounds in Mexico’s capital city, the name of which, by the way, thanks to President Enrique Peña Nieto, changed officially from “Distrito Federal” to “La Ciudad de México” in January. Indeed, a number of plays I saw this season poked fun at the name change. Spectators have to work hard to ascertain which plays are most worth seeing, and then they have to battle traffic and parking. Although a few plays charge Broadway prices (usually musicals brought from Broadway and rendered into Spanish), most are far more reasonably priced—less than $10.00 (150 pesos) for top-notch, main stage plays at UNAM for general public, less than $5.00 (75 pesos) for students and professors, and less than $2.00 (30 pesos) on Thursdays for anyone. Independent theaters normally charge about double those prices, while others charge less or depend on donations. A financial study of how theaters stay afloat would be most welcome; most seem to survive as if by miracle. One can always find performances of Shakespeare’s plays in Mexico City, but the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death this year spawned an inordinate [End Page 239] number of Shakespeare performances. A four-hour version of Hamlet under the direction of Flavio González Mello, for example, sold out during my entire stay in the city. And beyond “standard” performances of his plays, there were other plays based on Shakespeare’s work, such as a pair of plays focusing on the Pyramus and Thisbe play within A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In general I found more classic plays or plays based on classics than usual this season, including several versions of Faust, a version of Antigone adapted and directed by David Gaitán, a play called Agamemnon y Electra written and directed by José Alberto Gallardo, a Lope de Vega play, and a trio of entremeses by Cervantes. Current-day Mexico was also on display on stage, with its bevy of challenges, such as governmental corruption, disappearances, poverty, police abuse, sexual abuse, discrimination, immigration issues, homelessness, and family breakdown, but also showing Mexico’s resilience, diversity, genius, and beauty. Other plays hinted at Mexican realities, but could have taken place in many parts of the world. For me, seven plays stood out as the season’s most outstanding. Here follow my too-brief comments on each of those seven, in alphabetical order, after which I include far-too-brief comments on other notable plays. Fractales The text of this play by Alejandro Ricaño won the Premio Nacional de Dramaturgia “Víctor Hugo Rascón Banda” in 2011. It has been staged a number of times, but since at least 2012 a version directed by and with a set designed by Adrián Vázquez has been performed in many parts of Mexico. I saw this version as part of a series at the Centro Cultural Helénico called “Ciclo hecho en…,” which brings performances from different states of the Republic to be showcased in Mexico City. Fractales and another play represented Veracruz. This version of Fractales shares the brilliant technique of having multiple actors represent one character that I...