Juan Moreira

EDUARDO GUTIÉRREZ AND JOSÉ PODESTÁ (ARGENTINA/URUGUAY, 1886)
TRANSLATED BY MARGARET CARSON

When the tragic tale of the real-life gaucho Juan Moreira was first performed in a circus ring on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, its unprecedented success ushered in the golden age of the traveling circo criollo tradition. Since that time it has been adapted and reinvented countless times for radio, film, teatro callejero (street theater), and the silver screen. Moreira is a horseman with a heart of gold who is forced into the life of an outlaw and chased across the pampas by representatives of the modernizing State. Fated to die from the moment he takes the stage, he embodies the unifying drama of the nation while revealing its most violent fissures.