Prophetic Justice: Gerardo Fulleda’s Forward-Looking Historical Theatre
Keywords:
Gerardo Fulleda, Cuba, theatre, race, Plácido, Ruandi, La pasión desobediente, Cuban theatre, quinquenio gris, Latin American literatureAbstract
Gerardo Fulleda León’s theatrical production runs from the 1960s through the present. While he was awarded Cuba’s 2014 Premio Nacional de Teatro for his work as a playwright and also for his long tenure as artistic director of the Rita Montaner Theatre Company from 1988 until his retirement in 2014, Fulleda’s theatre remains understudied and underappreciated, on and off the island. Many of Fulleda’s plays are set in Cuba’s colonial era, exploring issues of social inequality and artistic expression through a historical lens. This article takes as its point of departure the repressive legacy of the so-called Quinquenio Gris and the role of historical fiction in negotiating restrictions on freedom of expression. In this light, Fulleda’s historical plays enact a struggle for justice through prophetic/poetic language that imagines a future where egalitarian aims fall within reach. His work fights for the common good of oppressed groups while upholding the value of individuality. Further, in Fulleda’s theatre the celebration of the humanity of his protagonists is always also a celebration of their Cubanness. Historical inequities inform his plays’ present-day concerns, with an idealistic eye toward what might one day be.
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