“We need a type of theater which not only releases the feelings, insights and impulses possible within the particular historical field of human relations in which the action takes place, but employs and encourages those thoughts and feelings which help transform the field itself”
Bertolt Brecht
Contrary on what you may think, epic theater (also called dialectic theater) is far away from the classic greek tragedies or the Homer’s myth. This type of theater is referred to the one Bertolt Brecht created on the XX century. A play that pretends to talk about the past (a historical event), but the audience will relate with the present. He is also the creator of the distant effect, where a character stop the action of the play deliberately to create a moment of reflexion, occasionally serving as first person narrator. Some other Brecht’s method are juxtaposition scenes, where two or more actions happens simultaneously on different places or times, and a circle narrative where the action starts and finishes on the same spot. There is no discussion that Javier Vidal’s dramaturgy has a complete saga of epic theater, from Diógenes y las camisas voladoras (2011) to his recently new play, La íntima del presidente (2018) Diogenes is a barely known character on venezuela's history. He was going to become the president of Venezuela, unfortunately his mental illness kept him from it. He was the civilist who would change the tradition of military ruling Venezuela. A brilliant man who was able to make a pact with the all living forces in Venezuela for the final transition to democracy. Between scene and scene both his secretary Hugo Orozco and his political adviser Ramón J. Velásquez enounce the scene through Brecht’s distant effect technique. At the end, the audience will feel there is a better country that may be constructed.
Los Compadres (2013) is about Cipriano Castro and Juan Vicente Gómez. The vice-president Gómez wants to betray president Castro, and the best opportunity present itself when Castro in 1908 has to go to Germany due to his illness. Gómez will rule the country until his death in 1936. Even though the author is referring to historical events, the audience will make some connection with the present, either by the sickness of the president, or the succession of the vice-president. The audience, then, will have the feeling that history repeats itself in a loop.
La Catira del General starts with Cela, a spanish writer, presenting itself and narrating the action. Cela has come to Venezuela to write a novel (La Catira) in order to make propagandistic piece for Pérez Jimenez administration. He is an artist that has compromised his art for some money. Same happens with Vallenilla Lanz, his minister of justice, an intellectual supporting a dictatorship who compromise his intelligence. Another important character in this play is Paco, who represents all the european migration from those days, specially the spanish one. At the end the author adds a new scene post-climax, where Pérez Jimenez rejects to do a clean election process, and his minister consciousness refuses to participate in such scam abandoning his position as a minister and changing his mind from a politically correct man to a correct political, adding a new theme to the play “fraudulent elections”. Again, the feeling that history repeats in a loop will be present on the audience.
His most recent play is “La íntima del presidente”. This play is about religious and political tolerance. Medina Angarita, future president of Venezuela, is a conservative catholic, who is in love with a jewish woman Estrella Serfati. Despite he is a Hitler supporter at the beginning, his love for Estrella will put a first step on him for tolerance. Furthermore, Uslar Pietri’s liberal point of view will make him abandon completely his fascist ideas, for a more democratic one. In his administration he legalizes communist party and A.D. (social-democrat), and prepares the terrain for universal vote, including women and illiterates. Unfortunately the democratic transition he was preparing will be interrupt by a coup d’Etat. At the end Medina thinks “I will have to conclude that in this country, a few cultural and professional differences arise such ambitions that threaten the very basis of the armed forces and the country." The author speak up his mind through Medina’s words to create a reflexive climax.
Plato said that art copies nature. On the same track of ideas, Shakespeare saw it as a mirror in which human being sees reflected. Brecht on the other hand, used to think is a hammer that shapes society. Either way, it is a tool Javier Vidal uses with a purpose to entertain, to think, to leave a mark on our society. If I had to enclose Javier Vidal’s thesis throughout his plays in one sentence it would be “I want a more civilized society.” Or marking his words “My plays are for civilizing the country against the barbaric govern that pretends to rule us from Miraflores”.
Strange as it may seem, the new Avengers movie is about a complex topic. A cruel Titan named Thanos, wants to rule the world with an iron fist. His ideology is nihilism. If he kills half of the Universe, the small resources existing in his world will be enough to end poverty and misery, and all the ills in the universe will cease. How may he achieve such a great power? Stealing the six infinity stones, that controls time, space, mind, soul, power and reality. It is, of course, up to the Avengers to stop him. It is a calculus based on William F. Lloyd’s theory Tragedy of the commons. All the same, human nature is not able to think consciously, because is individualist and selfish, therefore someone has to oblige them by force. Basically, Thanos wants to fix overpopulation, pollution, non-renewable energy, carbon emissions problems. A chance to have a morning after for the generations to come, to grow in a healthy world, where the finite resources are no longer a problem. A society with a few differences on equality scales. A better distribution in the Universe. This is why at the end of the movie, Thanos just sits to see the sunrise: A new dawn has arrived! Even so, this brings others problems, such as the loss of liberty, the main reason why the Avengers are fighting him. If Thanos wants to control the Universe, he will have no opposition to fight against him, so he will do whatever he feels right, in other words the Universe will become a totalitarian nightmare. “Totalitarianism is a political concept where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible”. The scene where he has to sacrifice his daughter Gamora, his most beloved being, in order to achieve the soul stone is very significant. It is the best metaphor of what happens in a totalitarian state, that is willing to sacrifice its own children if necessary. Most of the totalitarian dictatorships propaganda centers on having a more equal society, for a new morning in a better world, but, what is the actual cost? Thanos at the end of the movie says that a lot has been lost, even for him. He moans the loss of his daughter, but he has no regrets on what has happened. This was his plan. He is convinced of his ideas: killing half population will make the Universe stronger and healthier.
Convinced of this was Stalin, Hitler and others dictators of such nature. Sad to say this is not an issue of the past. Dictators of this nature keep appearing, specially in Africa and Middle East. Should we see ourselves, and it is clear here also. The Cuban and Venezuelan dictatorships are clearly the Thanos. Is Cuba going to sacrifice Venezuela in order to save itself, just as Thanos did with Gamora? Where are the Avengers in this story? The United States?, ONU?, European Community? O.A.S? Are they tied up as the Avengers in the movie? To be continued...
