El gesticulador
Encyclopedia
El gesticulador is a 1938 play by Mexican
dramatist Rodolfo Usigli
.
, settles with his family in a small town in the north of Mexico. There, a professor from Harvard University
confuses him for a missing revolutionary hero with the same name. Rubio claims to be the deceased hero, telling the professor that, disillusioned with the course of the Revolution, he had embraced anonymity until thirty years thereafter. The story is published in the New York Times, and Rubio comes to the attention of his compatriots, receiving accolades and fielding offers to run for the governorship of his state against a corrupt Revolutionary general. Rubio loses himself in his new identity, viewing it as an opportunity to renew the promise of the Revolution.
Things go awry when the corrupt general against whom César is running forces a meeting between the two. In their conversation, each attempts to blackmail the other. Navarro, the corrupt general, knows that César is not the general he claims to be. César, on the other hand, figures out that Navarro killed general César Rubio during the war. Outside the door was César's son, who had trouble reconciling his father's newly revealed heroism.
's Palacio de Bellas Artes
was welcomed by the theater-going public, but was met with hostility by the Mexican government. At issue was the play's declaration of the death of the Mexican Revolution in its institutionalization in the Partido Revolucionario Institucional.
The government cancelled several performances, and writers were hired to severely criticize the performances that were allowed to go on. The work thus became the only play in Mexican history to be censored
by the government.
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
dramatist Rodolfo Usigli
Rodolfo Usigli
Rodolfo Usigli was a Mexican playwright. He was called the "playwright of the Mexican Revolution."Usigli born to an Italian father and a Polish mother in Mexico City. He studied drama at Yale from 1935-1936 on a Rockefeller scholarship, later becoming a professor and diplomat...
.
Plot
The protagonist, César Rubio, is an unemployed professor who, in the aftermath of the Mexican RevolutionMexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...
, settles with his family in a small town in the north of Mexico. There, a professor from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
confuses him for a missing revolutionary hero with the same name. Rubio claims to be the deceased hero, telling the professor that, disillusioned with the course of the Revolution, he had embraced anonymity until thirty years thereafter. The story is published in the New York Times, and Rubio comes to the attention of his compatriots, receiving accolades and fielding offers to run for the governorship of his state against a corrupt Revolutionary general. Rubio loses himself in his new identity, viewing it as an opportunity to renew the promise of the Revolution.
Things go awry when the corrupt general against whom César is running forces a meeting between the two. In their conversation, each attempts to blackmail the other. Navarro, the corrupt general, knows that César is not the general he claims to be. César, on the other hand, figures out that Navarro killed general César Rubio during the war. Outside the door was César's son, who had trouble reconciling his father's newly revealed heroism.
Controversy
The play was daring for its time in that it used the true language of contemporary politics, a first for Mexican literature. Originally published in the literary review El hijo pródigo in 1938, the play was not staged until 1947. Its debut in the Mexico CityMexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
's Palacio de Bellas Artes
Palacio de Bellas Artes
The Palacio de Bellas Artes is the most important cultural center in Mexico City as well as the rest of the country of Mexico...
was welcomed by the theater-going public, but was met with hostility by the Mexican government. At issue was the play's declaration of the death of the Mexican Revolution in its institutionalization in the Partido Revolucionario Institucional.
The government cancelled several performances, and writers were hired to severely criticize the performances that were allowed to go on. The work thus became the only play in Mexican history to be censored
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
by the government.