A SAMPLING OF RECENT REVIEWS OF ESTRENO PLAYS
Luis Araújo's Vanzetti and Paloma Pedrero's
Parting Gestures with A Night in the Subway (1999)
Estreno's series on contemporary Spanish plays includes these works by two
of Spain's most exciting young playwrights. The English translations expertly
capture the style and flavor of the original Spanish.... Both playwrights
are exciting to read, and their works have proven highly popular with theater
audiences in many countries. Highly recommended for contemporary theater collections
in academic and public libraries.
Library Journal
Josep Maria Benet i Jornet's Legacy. (2000)
Benet i Jornet (b. 1940) is the most popular playwright in Catalonia today.
This text has been performed in Madrid (in the Castilian Spanish translation)
and in Barcelona (in the original Catalan), and has also been made into a
movie entitled Friend/Lover.
Translation Review
Sebastián Junyent's Packing up the Past (2000)
First performed to international acclaim in 1985 and a winner of Lope de Vega
Prize, this play explores various aspects of women's experience in Franco's
Spain, along with such issues as parental influences on children, the emotional
force of memory, and the illusory nature of freedom.... Recommended for all
script libraries and collections of translated Spanish literature.
Library Journal
Paloma Pedrero's First Star and The Railing
(2001)
Written by Spain's leading contemporary woman playwright, these two short
plays, expertly translated by Hite, feature complex and richly drawn characters
in dramatic, seriocomic situations.... Both plays successfully blend pathos
and humor. Highly recommended for contemporary drama collections.
Library Journal
José María Rodríguez Méndez's
Autumn Flower (2001)
Set in 1930s Barcelona, this play is based on the real life of a legendary
cabaret drag star and revolutionary.... Recommended for contemporary theater
arts collections.
Library Journal
Juan Mayorga's Love Letters to Stalin (2002)
[The drama] focuses on the frustration of a censored writer, Mikhail Bulgakov,
who uncovers the depth of his emotional and psychological dilemma through
a series of imagined, and at times comic, encounters with the diabolical figure
of Stalin. The play is a meditation on the tortured relationship between power
and art.
Translation Review
Eduardo Galán and Javier Garcimartín's Inn
Discretions (2002)
[The translation] uses contemporary language, fluid grammar, and reads as
quickly and smoothly as a farce must. The punning title is only one proof
of the translation's clever handling of language. Moreover, Len Mazzara has
produced a translation that is imminently stageable. Indeed, I think that
colleges around the nation would find this work suitable and fun for their
students to produce.
Sharon M. Carnicke
University of Southern California