Posted by Isabel Christina Vallejo on March 30, 192003 at 22:23:16:
Buenaventuras plays really made me sad inremembering the political and social situation in myown Colombia. The plays i fell are very true to a reality that occurs and has occured for over forty years in my country. The different situations he portrays in the four plays, express scenes that, thpough they may seem grousome and exaggerated, are in fact occuring in very similar ways still today. The people of colombia live with these dangerous lives and in constant fear, but at the same time have grown so accustomed to it that they consider it a way of life. I feel that one very important point that Buenaventura tries to make is that precisely, that the colombian people have grown accustomed or numb to their situation. for example in "the Funeral" when all the characters realize that there is a stench yet they just perfume their handkerchieffs to ignore the smell. Or even more Dramatic when in "The Schoolteacher" she refuses to eat or practically live because she does realize the graveness of her reality and can not live in acceptance any longer. Kidnappings, bombings, guerilla and paramilitar movements are a a regular topic conversations mixed in with daily greetings. I feel like putting them on stage, and showing them precisely to these Colombian audiences,as well as showing their numbness towrds it, must stir something inside them, to see their horrible realities being performed onstage. It would be really interesting to view one of these plays performed in Colombia and to view the reaction of the audience.