The Charm of the Teatro Cervantes of Buenos Aires

The Charm of the Teatro Cervantes of Buenos Aires

I love watching plays at the “Teatro Cervantes de Buenos Aires”, it´s such an experience! Its an inexpensive way for people to enjoy “old” argentine plays with a good production, professional – and famous- actors and, many times, live music. The crowd that goes there is mostly composed by nostalgic senior citizens that always seem to have a blast watching old time plays from the time when they where young, or even prior.

One of it´s main characteristics is that the Teatro Cervantes shows only plays originally written in Spanish language (Cervantes, hello!) So this is the venue of the city where Spanish classic theatre and “Grotesco Criollo” plays are performed at their best. (Well, the Teatro San Martin de Buenos Aires it´s good too!)

Last Sunday I watched Mateo, an argentine play from 1923 written by my favourite South American playwright: Armando Discépolo. (1887- 1971) -the author of plays like Stéfano and Babilonia-. Mateo is about a 60 year old poor man, who desperate needs money and gets involved in illegal acts to support his family, who thinks he is old fashioned, stubborn and useless.

I always found amazing the way he portraits the urban life of Argentina during the 1920´s: how poor immigrants – specially from Italy- have to adjust to their new reality; how they are victims of “the progress” and their own ideas about it; how the generational gap between parents and kids gets political and ruins the whole family and how most of the times the main character becomes gradually decadent and pathetic.

Probably the most nostalgic effect from Armando Discépolo ´s plays is the cocoliche or “itañol”, which is the way Italian immigrants spoke Spanish during those days. Even when argentine Spanish is spoken with a strong Italian accent, they only use very few words from cocoliche nowadays. So, if the audience of the Teatro Cervantes is composed mainly by people over 50 - first generation of immigrants, or immigrants themselves-, I can imagine for a moment how beautiful it must be for them to go to the theatre and watch a play where the characters speak the way their parents did.

Discépolo ´s brother (Enrique Santos Discépolo) was a tango composer; he is the creator of the world famous “Cambalache” a song that talks about how honour is not a value these days in a non-preachy and bittersweet way.

If you are interested in the watching works from playwrights such as: Gregorio de Laferrère, Florencio Sánchez, Armando Discépolo or other important and alive authors like: Griselda Gambaro, Ricardo Monti, Roberto Cossa or Oscar Viale, then the Teatro Cervantes it´s a great choice for your entertainment in Buenos Aires. It’s is located on 815 Libertad street on the corner of Cordoba Avenue, Just one block away of the Opera House of Buenos Aires the legendary Colon Theatre.

http://www.teatrocervantes.gov.ar