The figure of one of the great heroes of Argentina: Manuel Belgrano, but also his troubled times and the changing and mutable concept of “patriot” are the axes of the work premiered on Friday at the Templum Theater.
in the history of “Up the low town” which takes the stage every Friday at 9:00 p.m., a trio of historians intends to answer what it means to be a patriot in relation to the creator of the flag. But the more they investigate, the story becomes more complicated and they must improvise new and multiple works to tell a complex time: the first decade after the 1810 revolution. Then they discover that at that time there was no “Homeland” with capital letters, but rather it was a territory of models of homelands in conflict.
The cast that carries out this research and reflection exercise has a peculiar name: “Republiquetas” and emerged in 2016 with a work that recalled the “republiquetas” of Upper Peru who signed the Declaration of Independence, They appeared in a cycle of the Cervantes Theater and then continued investigating issues of the national past. In all the works we explore the idea that the construction of the nation does not take place from one day to the next. rather, it is being put together and is mutable from the very concept of Nation”, synthesizes Gabriel Yeannoteguy, author of the text and also an actor.
To review Belgrano and his troubled times, the actors who are also playwrights (in addition to Yeannoteguy are José María Barrios Hermosa, Francisco Civit, Fernando Migueles) they had the collaboration of Mariana Pérez, professor and doctor in History of the UBA and researcher of the Conicet. “I am delighted to have been able to collaborate because it is a very interesting cultural product but also because a play is an intelligent way of building bridges between what we historians do, what we are investigating and this time, and the general public” , analyzes Pérez and inscribes this interaction between historiography and the spectacle in the current of “public history” that translates into other works, podcasts, radio and television programs and other cultural expressions, which allows historians to transcend the academic field .
The specialist of the Ravignani Institute of the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the UBA points out that, from the title itself, the work aims to rescue another side of history: “Inquire into what were the experiences of the popular sectors in the processes of independence , and in the revolution underway. It is something that is being investigated in depth in the last 25 years in the field of historiography”. “The work tells how the poor whites, the mestizos, the inhabitants of the countryside lived the Revolution and the Independence”adds and inscribes this gaze in a process of rewriting history that is constantly taking place.
When explaining why a proposal that delves into the history of ordinary people focuses on Belgrano, Yeannoteguy describes the creator of the flag as “a dramatic excuse” since the text began to take shape in February 2020 when they met 200 of his death and it was going to be the Belgranian Year. “But the pandemic arrived and there began to be similarities because we were in an emergency, just like in the year Belgrano died, 1820, a time of convulsion and anarchy in the country,” analyzes the actor and playwright and then adds: “The The day he died passed unnoticed by the political situation. And on his bicentennial, there were no reminders but because of the pandemic. It seemed very symbolic to us.”
But it also points to the relevance of the hero: “He is in the pantheon of illustrious Argentines and is present in schools every time the flag is raised. But he is also a current character, Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner herself mentioned him as her favorite hero.
For his part, Pérez highlights the consensus that was built in Argentine history on the virtues of the creator of the flag. “In the case of Belgrano, it is very interesting that it stopped having critics early, very early in the 19th century, long before San Martín himself,” says the historian, happy to bring reflection on the national past to the general public.
“Arriba el bajo pueblo” is presented until December 2, on Fridays at 9:00 p.m. at Ayacucho 318 in the City of Buenos Aires.
What is coming: the Malvinas war in focus
While they present the Belgranian work and about the origins of the Homeland and they plan to take it to schools, unions, associations and theaters throughout the country. , the cast of “Republiquetas” is already working on another production about the history of the Argentine presence in Malvinas and the South Atlantic conflict.
“It’s a text by the writer Lucía Laragione about Malvinas that seemed perfect for a company like ours that makes theater with historical materials,” says Yeannoteguy.
