Teatro de cabaret: Imaginarios disidentes (review)

280 Arizona fournal of Hispanic Cultural Studies violating most all the standards of the religious life" (119). What could be more modern? This is an excellent, stimulating, and original study of a great, under-appreciated novel. Haidt invites us to return to Fray Gerundio, to read it again with renewed vigor, and to appreciate its cleverness, its seductiveness, and its absolutely modern sensibility. David T. Gies University of Virginia Teatro de cabaret: Imaginarios disidentes Ediciones de GESTOS Colección Historia del Teatro 6,2002 By Gastón A. Õ lzate Gastón A. Õ lzate, inspired by Juan Villegas call for the study of Latin American Theater and David Foster's research and theories on queer studies in Latin America, initiates with his book Teatro de cabaret: Imaginarios duidentes serious investigation of this genre. Õ lzate focuses his analysis on contemporary Mexico City and, more specifically, on the artists Astrid Hadad, Jesusa RodrÃ-guez, Liliana Felipe, Paquita la del Barrio, and Francis and Tito Vasconcelos. Recognizing the limitations of approaching these artists and Mexican cabaret from a North American academic ideology and preparation, Õ lzate sustains his theoretical thesis with discussions on sexuality as well as Mexican popular culture, history and politics. Õ lzate sets the tone for Chapter one, "La disidencia corporal: Astrid Hadad," widi the following quote by die artist: "Me siento el vivo retrato de la república mexicana: toda jodida" (41). This epigraph masterfully captures the importance of Mexican politics and its ramifications on the female body and sexuality in Hadad's work. In this chapter Õ lzate demonstrates how Hadad turns her body into a spectacle rhrough his continued dieoretical discussions on queer theory and classifies Hadad's cabaret as queer due to her representation of the body as multiple and as the other. Õ lzate claims that she plays out stereotypes to the extreme in order to manifest how patriarchy distorts the female. For example, he includes a phorograph of the artist in her performance La multimada (1996) where her dress is covered with dozens of breasts which, according to the author, "representan a la patria chupada" (40). Chapter two, "La disidencia polÃ-tica: Jesusa RodrÃ-guez y Liliana Felipe," highlights the major accomplishments of these two artists. Õ lzate traces both of their careers before they jointly rent la Capilla in 1990 and open the bar El Hábito where they have performed over 350 plays. Õ lzate then analyzes two of their works, or sketches as he later calls them, that best represent the political nature of their art: La Coatlicue (1990) and Malinche (1991). Both sketches call upon historical figures, however they combine historical and contemporary social concerns ranging from drug trafficking to the importance and presence of indigenous cultures in Mexico. After this analysis, Õ lzate focuses exclusively on Jesusas artistic political activism . He considers it to be an essential form of her dramatic expression that is deeply integrated into her work both on and off of the stage. Jesusa has performed on street corners with members of the public and community and she has participated in other street performances and protests along with odier renowned artists such as Laura Esquivel and Elena Poniatowska. Õ lzate notes that Jesusa is a strong defender of the Zapatista Movement and that she calls upon her theatrical skills in order to support their cause. This is by far the most informative and intriguing section of the chapter and it would be of great interest not only to those who study theater but also to anyone interested in Mexican politics. Alzate's third chapter focuses on the Mexican singer and cabaret artist Francisca Viveros Barrandas, better known as Paquita la del Barrio. Paquita, unlike the other artists Õ lzate studies in this book, enjoys enormous success and popularity , whose career could very easily constitute an object of serious study itself. While this chapter might be brief and perhaps too sketchy for the professional critic or for Paquitas fans, it does offer a quick overview of the artist's career. Chapters four and five study the phenomena of gay cabaret from completely opposite angles. In fact, while Õ lzate usually highlights the dissi- Arizona fournal of Hispanic Cultural Studies 281 dence of each artist, chapter four announces from...