Virgilio Piñera
Official Cuban culture is preparing for 2012 in order to celebrate the 100-year mark of Virgilio Piñera´s birth, settling an old obligation to this avant-garde playwright, novelist and poet born in the Matanza city, Cárdenas, in 1912. He died in 1979 in the capital.
Despite his death, the true cultural entertainers, decided a few years back to revive his silenced work, paying tribute to his intellectuality by publicizing it. A good example of this is the theatrical piece that premiered in 1998, Si vas a comer, espera por Virgilio, (If you´re going to eat, wait for Virgilio) which many considered a masterpiece from the director and playwright José Milián; and now, it is returning to Cuban stages.
With the Pequeño Teatro de La Habana, (Havana´s Small Theater) group, Milián brings some of his human concerns to the stage, such as the subject of contradictions facing friends, as well as being a coherent narrative on Cuban contemporary theater´s future, momentum, sense of emotional union and other less represented facets, such as closed cultural politics and discriminations from the 60´s and 70´s, which Piñera experienced due to his sexual preferences.
Milián and the Havana´s Small Theater group achieve a very artistic environment with this play, which isn´t so easy, as the piece is full of hypertext. It has won awards and there have been constant presentations over the years — including in Miami — confirming that up until now, this play has become Milián´s most popular text and acclaim.
Many intellectual Cubans doubt Virgilio Piñera, although not all recognize it. Reinaldo Arenas and Severo Sarduy always appreciated his role in Cuban literature and theater; Arenas fascinated by the first pages of his Antes que anochezca, (Before Night Falls), Sarduy by his autobiographical texts. Author of emblematic works — Electra Garrigó, Dos viejos panics (Two old panics) and Aire fro (Cold air) — Piñera should be considered in the same as they categorize José Milián: "The father of Cuban theater."
Details:
Si vas a comer, espera por Virgilio
Café Teatro Bertolt Brecht
Calle 13 on the corner of I, Vedado, Havana.
Dates: 8, 9 and 10 July
Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 5 p.m.
T: (537) 832 9359
