One of
Argentina´s most noteworthy dramatists and pioneer in psychodrama, Tato
Pavlovsky passed away last night at the ripe age of 82. He viewed art as a way
of provoking reflection on social issues. “An intellectual should be a sniper,”
he once said.
In November of
1974, while acting in his play “El Señor Galíndez” about the life of a
torturer, a bomb went off in the Payró Theater, although he was not injured.
Subsequently in 1977 the Military Dictatorship banned his play “Telarañas” and
he had to flee to Uruguay, closely
followed by death squads. He managed to seek refuge in Madrid.
In addition to those two plays, he has been
acclaimed for “El Señor Laforgue,” “Potestad,” “Variaciones Meyerhold” and “Rojos
globos rojos.”
During
the presentation of his book “Asuntos Pendientes” he responded to a question
concerning whether his was a political approach to theater saying, “I am politically compromised but my theater is a theater that tries to enter into
the invisible things of our life, in the important historical moments. Not
losing what is fundamental to the author. And in my opinion what is fundamental for the author? Not to lose sight of
critical insight.”
Indeed. Theater is vast in its expressive possibilities but as art it
should never lose sight of its duty to question, investigate and explore
independently of religious or political beliefs.
