María Antonia
Eugenio Hernández Espinosa is one of Cuba´s great contemporary playwrights. Among his outstanding parts—success with both critics and the public—is María Antonia, which was released in 1967 and made into a movie in 1990.
In this year´s fourth month, the group Teatro Caribeño (Carribean Theater) is presenting in the Mella coliseum, a blockbuster that theater lovers will surely appreciate. A tragic story told in bolero times, María Antonia, a femme fatal, an untamed mestiza, goes against all things divine and human in pre-1959 Havana.
The National Folkloric Group and the Santiago Alfonso Company will be the ones supporting the Caribbean group on stage. Added to Sergio Vitier´s music, the room will be flooded with a particular force of passion, magical liturgy and indifference.
Speaking of Cuban stage blockbusters, in these times, I recognize that it has a high-sounding connotation, but I cannot find a better adjective that is fair. The public can see two fabulously combined arts, music and dance, with a wide variety of genres (Yoruba, Abakuá, Spanish Flamenco, Bolero, Rumba, Cha Cha Cha, etc.) but all under the pretext of a argumentative drama.
In this occasion, the artistic direction is under its own playwright, Hernández Espinosa (National Theater Award 2005), who hopes to break the box office record from when the play debuted. The production will be every weekend "until the public decides otherwise," according to the state´s National Council for Preforming Arts. This is undoubtedly good news for those who love theater, Cuban theater in particular.
Details:
Mella Theater, Línea Street between A and B. Vedado area.
Telephone numbers: (+53-7) 833 5651, (+53-7) 830 4987, (+53-7) 833 5063, (+53-7) 833 8696
