Compañias y teatros. Instituciones y formaciones en Buenos Aires (1930-1949)

Abstract

In the present work we propose to see how, from the 1930s in Argentina, state interventions in the cultural aspect influenced the development of popular forms of our theater. When speaking of the rooms dedicated to popular theater, the passage of time meant a decrease in the number of premieres, especially with regard to the sainete, which was being replaced either by the asainetada comedy or even more by the comedy in three acts. The reasons may be several but we believe that this was due in part to the constant censorship by critics who questioned the “low aesthetic quality” of these premieres and warmly praised the actors and companies that ventured into larger pieces. extension. The actors, attentive to this claim, were, then, increasingly alternating the short genre with others of greater legitimacy. Not only the immediate journalistic criticism gave the impetus, but also the magazines dedicated to the theater and the institutions in charge of awarding prizes. The disappearance of La Scene and Bambalinas magazines that had circulated in previous decades, dedicated to popular theater, meant the loss of an important legitimizing organ, since the magazines that came later saw the popular theater as a space that had to undergo great modifications to be “acceptable”. The same happened with the prizes that gradually put aside mainly the farce.