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‘Common-Sense Catchword’: The Applications of Censura to Argentinian Theatre and Performance
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 May 2011
Abstract
This article probes some of the ‘catches’ in the universal application of the common-sense word ‘censorship’. To do so, it scrutinizes the application of the Spanish-language term censura to theatre produced in Buenos Aires and its working-class suburbs in the past thirty-five years, under dictatorship as well as democracy, through the examination of specific cases of productions and plays classified as censored, self-censored, and/or counter-censorial. The article concludes by examining two plays whose writing pre-dates the last dictatorship but which are still considered illustrative of a certain kind of Argentinian censorship. Through these various examples drawn from Argentinian theatrical practice, the article exposes censorship as a problematic category when applied equally at all times.
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References
NOTES
1 Avellaneda, Andrés, Censura, autoritarismo y cultura: Argentina 1960–1983, 2 vols. (Buenos Aires: Centro Editor de América Latina, 1986), Vol. I, p. 7Google Scholar. Unless otherwise noted, all translations from Spanish are mine.
2 For Avellaneda, said cultural control begins with Argentina's first military coup in 1930. It becomes centralized during Juan Perón's initial two presidencies and is rendered increasingly obstructionist during the mid-1960s Onganía military regime. See Avellaneda, Andrés, ‘Argentina’, in Jones, Derek, ed., Censorship: A World Encyclopedia (London and Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2001), 4 vols., Vol. I, pp. 86–92Google Scholar. Perhaps the best-known example of 1960s censorship is the prohibition of Alberto Ginastera's opera Bomarzo, but books, films, visual arts, comic books, popular music (including tango classics by Carlos Gardel and Enrique Santos Discépolo), classical music and radio were all subjected to state censorship. Most (state-sponsored) censorship in Argentina is based on articles of the penal code. The first municipal decree regarding public performances, 1882 (Law 1260), was expanded in 1920 to prohibit ‘the performance of any work or exhibition of films or scenes that in their language, actions or plots could be considered offensive to morality or respectable customs’ (quoted in Avellaneda, ‘Argentina’, p. 87).
3 Andrés Avellaneda, ‘Argentina’, p. 90.
4 Reinelt, Janelle, ‘The Limits of Censorship’, Theatre Research International, 32, 1 (March 2007), pp. 3–15CrossRefGoogle Scholar, here p. 3.
5 Whereas English makes a distinction between censuring and censoring, in Spanish there is a single term: censura. Thus the Spanish word carries within it both the regulation or suppression of expression (censorship) and the formal rebuke for the perceived offense (censure). Diccionario de la lengua española, Real Academia Española, at http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/ (accessed 21 May 2010). In this article I frequently employ the Spanish term to remind readers of censura's double-edged implication.
6 Some of these blacklists were not made public until after the country's return to democracy. Nevertheless, it was clear to artists that they were being blacklisted even when there was no document including their names.
7 See Jean Graham-Jones, Exorcising History: Argentine Theater under Dictatorship (Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 2000); and Diana Taylor, Disappearing Acts: Spectacles of Gender and Nationalism in Argentina's ‘Dirty War’ (Durham, NC and London: Duke University Press, 1997), for detailed accounts of the period's theatre as well as specific performances.
8 Judith Butler distinguishes between implicit and explicit censorship by noting that the former term, unlike the latter's explicit state policing or regulation, refers to ‘implicit operations of power that rule out in unspoken ways what will remain unspeakable’. Butler, Judith, Excitable Speech: A Politics of the Performative (New York: Routledge, 1997), p. 130Google Scholar.
9 Andrés Avellaneda, ‘Argentina’, p. 91.
10 Hozven, Roberto, ‘Censura, autocensura, y contracensura: Reflexiones acerca de un simposio’, Chasqui, 12, 1 (November 1982), pp. 68–74CrossRefGoogle Scholar, here p. 70.
11 Ibid., p. 71.
12 Ibid., p. 71.
13 María Elena Walsh, quoted in Andrés Avellaneda, Censura, Vol. I, p. 48.
14 See Graham-Jones, Jean, ‘Broken Pencils, Crouching Dictators: Issues of Censorship in Contemporary Argentine Theatre’, Theatre Journal, 53, 4 (December 2001), pp. 595–605CrossRefGoogle Scholar, for an extended discussion of these concepts and their application to specific plays of the dictatorship period.
15 I thank James Harding for suggesting the etymological wordplay censura–sutura.
16 Quoted in Avellaneda, Andrés, ‘La ética de la entrepierna: Control censorio y cultura en la Argentina’, Hispamérica, 15, 43 (1986), pp. 42–3Google Scholar.
17 See Jean Graham-Jones, ‘Broken Pencils, Crouching Dictators’; and idem, Exorcising History.
18 Cánovas E., Rodrigo, ‘Lectura de Purgatorio. Por dónde comenzar’, hueso húmero, 10 (1980), p. 171Google Scholar. See also Lértora, Juan Carlos, ‘Rasgos formales del discurso censurado’, Literatura chilena, creación y crítica, 9, 2 (1985), pp. 7–9Google Scholar.
19 I am reminded of Judith Butler's admonition regarding the risk of becoming ‘part of the very discourse produced by the mechanism of censorship’ (Butler, Excitable Speech, p. 130) and thus perpetuating the very authoritarian state one seeks to resist and critique.
20 Pavlovsky, Eduardo, Telarañas, in La mueca. El señor Galíndez. Telarañas (Madrid: Editorial Fundamentos, 1980), pp. 123–78Google Scholar.
21 My reconstruction of these events is based on multiple (and sometimes contradictory) third-party accounts, the 1997 documentary Prohibido (dir. Andrés Di Tella), and personal conversations with Pavlovsky and Payró Theatre director Jaime Kogan in 1992.
22 In a personal interview, Pavlovsky spoke of a second, more favourable, review published in La Opinión, by a ‘Uruguayan’ (personal conversation, 15 September 1992).
23 According to Pavlovsky, Secretary of Culture Freixá told him, ‘Look, if I saw this in Tokyo, Japan, in any other part [of the world], I'd say what a show, but here, no.’ Eduardo Pavlovsky, quoted in Celia Dossio, El Payró: cincuenta años de teatro independiente (Buenos Aires: Emecé, 2003), p. 82.
24 The decree reads, ‘WHEREAS: [the play] proposes a line of thinking that is directly aimed at shaking the foundations of the institution of the family, [and] as said institution is a result of the spiritual, moral and social conception of our society. [Whereas] even though said position is portrayed, by and large, through a collection of symbolic attitudes, said attitudes have the necessary transparency to distort, in an easily perceived way, the essence and traditional image of said institution . . .. To the above can be added the use of indecent language and the succession of aberrant scenes, delivered with excessive crudeness and realism.’ Quoted in Andrés Avellaneda, Censura, 1986, Vol. II, p. 161. Critics have often asserted that Telarañas was banned for its political content. A careful reading of the decree shows that, once again, the state was objecting to the way in which traditional values were (re)presented on stage, thus demonstrating the 1976–83 military dictatorship's view of its national reorganization as a political and moral salvation project destined to return the country to the ‘Argentine way of life’ mentioned earlier.
25 The extremely negative review, entitled ‘Objectionable Play in the Payró Theatre’ (‘Pieza objetable en el Teatro Payró’), ran in the 23 November 1977 edition of La Prensa and was signed by E.F.R., identified by Pavlovsky as Erwin Félix Rubens. See Pavlovsky, La ética del cuerpo. Conversaciones con Jorge Dubatti (Buenos Aires: Ediciones Babilonia, 1994), p. 71. There were also cases of critics working to protect potentially blacklisted playwrights. The 1977 previews and reviews surrounding Ricardo Monti's Visita (Visit), for example, do not mention his only overtly political play overviews of his other earlier work.
26 See Gustavo Geirola's entry on Pavlovsky for more details of the account, in Versényi, Adam, ed., Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 305: Latin American Dramatists (Detroit: Bruccoli Clark Layman, 2005), p. 246Google Scholar.
27 Cossa, Roberto Mario, La nona, in Teatro 2 (Buenos Aires: Ediciones de la Flor, 1989), pp. 67–136Google Scholar.
28 Roberto Mario Cossa, interview 1978 with Naios Najchaus, 1981, p. 129; quoted in Morero, Sergio, ‘Es cuestión de tener buen oído’ (Interview with Roberto Mario Cossa), Teatro, 5, 20 (1985), p. 40Google Scholar.
29 Fernández, Gerardo, ‘Veinte espectáculos en la memoria’, in Coterillo, M. Pérez, ed., Escenarios de dos mundos (Madrid: Centro de Documentación Teatral, 1988), Vol. I, p. 162Google Scholar.
30 Graham-Yooll, Andrew, ‘Argentina: The State of Transition 1983–85’, Third World Quarterly, 7, 3 (July 1985), pp. 573–93CrossRefGoogle Scholar, here p. 578.
31 Somigliana, Carlos, El Oficial Primero, in Mazziotti, Nora, ed., Teatro Abierto 1982 (Buenos Aires: Puntosur Editores, 1989), pp. 105–16Google Scholar.
32 Andrés Avellaneda, ‘Argentina’, p. 91. Whether it is evidence of ‘a profound antidemocratic tendency in a country with a proclivity towards authoritarian repression’, as Avellaneda contends, censorship continued to play a role in the democratically elected governments in prohibitions and cancellations of films, television and radio programmes and certain songs. Mothers of the desaparecidos critical of the government were accused of desacato (disrespect), which, until the Criminal Code Article's 1993 repeal, was punishable by up to one year in prison if the offended party was the president or a congressional member. In the 1990s there were numerous documented acts of physical aggression against journalists, and in 1997 two journalists were tortured and murdered by unknown assailants whose association with the Buenos Aires police force has been proven.
33 Gambaro noted, ‘The playwright does not make his own confession alone’. Gambaro, , ‘Los rostros del exilio’, Alba de América, 7, 12–13 (July 1989), p. 35Google Scholar.
34 Gambaro, Griselda, Real envido, in Teatro 1 (Buenos Aires: Ediciones de la Flor, 1984), pp. 6–55Google Scholar.
35 Gambaro, Griselda, La malasangre, in Teatro 1 (Buenos Aires: Ediciones de la Flor, 1984), pp. 57–110Google Scholar.
36 See Puga, Ana Elena, Memory, Allegory, and Testimony in South American Theater: Upstaging Dictatorship (New York and Abingdon: Routledge, 2008), p. 168Google Scholar, for the account. Only one paper (La Nación) reported the event, and when director Yusem tried to press charges, the police refused to follow up on the matter. The production went on to enjoy a successful eight-month run.
37 See, for example, Avellaneda, Andrés, ‘Hablar y callar: construyendo sentido en la democracia’, Hispamérica, 24, 72 (1995), pp. 27–38Google Scholar.
38 For a detailed analysis of this production, see Graham-Jones, Jean, ‘La Pista 4's Cadáveres: Radiophonics and the Argentinean Staging of Disappearance’, Latin American Theatre Review, 42, 2 (spring 2009), pp. 5–13CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
39 It would be revived as a ‘classic’ by the Théâtre Nationale de Chaillot in 1993. See Weiss, Jason, The Lights of Home: A Century of Latin American Writers in Paris (New York and London: Routledge, 2003), p. 111Google Scholar.
40 Copi, nevertheless, claimed to have retained his Argentinian citizenship.
41 Indeed, director and leading actor ended up hiding themselves from the flames and explosions until the police arrived. There are many versions of this often-told story; see, for example, Tomás Eloy Martínez, ‘El revés de la trama’, Panorama, 24 February 1970, 43–4, and Alfredo Arias, ‘1970, Evita’, Página/12, 28 June 1992, Primer Plano 5.
42 Eva Perón, trans. Jorge Monteleone (Buenos Aires: Adriana Hidalgo, 2000).
43 Eva Perón was the final offering of the university's season, opening on 16 December 2000 and directed by María G.González and Sergio Sansosti. The only account I have found of the production is Federico Irazábal's article in Revista Picadero, ‘El regreso travestido de un mito: Eva Perón. Sobre el estreno de la obra de Copi en la Universidad de Tandil’, available at www.inteatro.gov.ar/editorial/picadero03.php (accessed 1 July 2009).
44 Loren Ringer, review of Eva Perón, Latin American Theatre Review, 35, 2 (spring 2002), p. 149.
45 Di Fonzo Bo (b. 1968) worked as Alfredo Arias's assistant when he first arrived in Paris in 1987. Di Fonzo Bo played the title character in Langhoff's 1995 production of Richard III; he also performed in Langhoff's 1997 version of Kafka's Penal Colony, Rodrigo García's Borges (2002), Alejandro Tantanian's Muñequita (Little Doll) (2003), and Osvaldo Lamborghini's El joven proletario (The Young Proletariat) (2004).
46 Correa, prior to directing, had performed in two local production of Copi plays: Las viejas putas (The Old Whores) and Cachafaz, both directed by Miguel Pittier.
47 Flechner also performed in the 1992 Buenos Aires premiere of Una visita inoportuna (An Inopportune Visit), Copi's last play.
48 Rómulo Berruti, ‘Copi, entre la desmesura y la cautela’, available at www.mundoteatral.com/ar/elespacio/romuloberruti/nota.php?uid=220 (accessed 1 June 2010). Another negative review of the Correa production appeared in La Prensa, available at www.laprensa.com.ar/300598-El-mito-de-Evita-revisado-por-Copi.note.aspx (accessed 1 June 2010).
49 See ‘Flechner en versión local’, available at www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/espectaculos/subnotas/44109–15079-2004–11-27.html (accessed 1 June 2010).
50 Griselda Gambaro, Información para extranjeros, in Teatro 2 (Buenos Aires: Ediciones de la Flor, 1987), pp. 67–128.
51 Feitlowitz, Marguerite, ‘Introduction’ to Information for Foreigners: Three Plays by Griselda Gambaro (Evanston: Northwestern, 1992), pp. 5–6Google Scholar. Other accounts claim Gambaro went so far as to burn the original manuscript and then reconstruct it during exile.
52 My description is reconstructed from various blogs and websites, including: ‘ZCH’ in the blog Zona Churrinche at http://zonachurrinche.blogspot.com/2007/08/informacin-para-extranjeros.html; http://colectivoteatralbaobabs.blogspot.com/2008/08/informacin-para-extranjerosquienes.html; http://ar.groups.yahoo.com/group/embacarlosmorel/message/1409; and www.prensadefrente.org/pdfb2/index.php/a/2007/08/31/p3138 (all accessed 1 June 2010). Company members testify that one evening a police patrol showed up at the Center, having been called by one neighbour afraid to cross the street, just to make sure that everything was in order.
53 Formed in 1995, HIJOS – Hijos por la Identidad y la Justicia contra el Olvido y la Soledad (Children for Identity and Justice, Against Oblivion and Solitude) – has dedicated itself to recovering the identities of some five hundred children born in captivity to now-disappeared mothers and to bringing to justice those who perpetrated human rights abuses, particularly during the 1976–83 dictatorship. HIJOS rose to prominence in Argentina for their escraches, public interventionist performances that expose military personnel and others complicit with the military regime but left unindicted. They have been joined in these efforts by the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo and the Abuelas, or grandmothers of the desaparecidos’ missing children. For a performance analysis of HIJOS and their escraches, see Diana Taylor, ‘“You are here”: HIJOS and the DNA of Performance’, in The Archive and the Repertoire: Performing Cultural Memory in the Americas (Durham: Duke UP, 2003).
54 Marta Mariasole Raimondi, ‘El teatro como espacio de resistencia en la Argentina de la postdictadura’, Nuevo Mundo Mundos Nuevos [online] Cuestiones del tiempo presente (2008), available at http://nuevomundo.revues.org/index37982.html (accessed 1 June 2010).
55 Andrew Graham-Yooll, ‘Argentina’, p. 579.