Arte y oficio del director teatral en América Latina: México y Peruacute; (review)

202 LATINAMERICAN THEATRE REVIEW Siguiendo la vida de Grotowski como columna vertebral, el libro se divide de acuerdo con las siguientes etapas: Período de la dirección (1959-1962); El teatro pobre(1962-1969);Experienciasparateatrales(1970-1982);Teatrodelasfuentes(19791982 ); El drama objetivo (1983-1985) y El arte como vehículo (1986-1999). El libro captura fácilmente la atención tanto del lector ilustrado como del neófito en cuestiones de teoría teatral. Su mayor acierto estriba en la muy estrecha relación que De Marinis establece entre la vida de Grotowski (sus anécdotas personales, las de sus discípulos y colegas), con los períodos antes mencionados de su práctica teatral y con la bibliografía comentada de y sobre la obra de Grotowski. Con estas tres fuentes De Marinis teje magistralmente un contrapunto a lo largo del seminario y del libro. Estas voces tan diversas le permiten al lector configurar la compleja imagen del dramaturgo polaco de un modo lo suficientemente provocador como para que sienta la necesidad de profundizar posteriormente en el tema. El único reparo que podría hacérsele al libro es la carencia en el índice del número de página correspondiente a cada etapa, al igual que la falta de divisiones en el texto de acuerdo con estas etapas, lo cual sería una útil guía para el lector. Si bien es cierto que el libro está escrito en forma de conversatorio, es evidente que estos períodos son el eje central del seminario y del libro de Marco De Marinis. Gastón A. Alzate Gustavus Adolphus College Geirola, Gustavo. Arte y oficio del director teatral en América Latina: México y Perú. BuenosAires:Atuel, 2004: 429 p. This book provides unusual insight into the world of theatre directors in Mexico and Peru. It contains the transcripts of interviews that Geirola conducted with seven Peruvian and ten Mexican directors between July 22 andAugust 8, 2002 as well an “e-mail interview” that Geirola conducted with Mexican director Renato de la Riva in September of the same year. Through these interviews, we learn about the inner workings of play production in Mexico and Peru, including the selection of texts, casts and theatre spaces; producers and promotion; rehearsals; and critics. Geirola also grants access to the directors’ backgrounds, philosophies and opinions on issues related to their national theatres. In short, readers of this book go behind the scenes and explore with Geirola valuable yet rarely seen areas of Mexico and Peru’s theatre worlds. In his “Prólogo,” Geirola establishes his basic line of questioning: El perfil y la formación del director; El director y el público; El director fuera de su localidad; El director y el productor; El director y el texto dramático; El director y el elenco; El director dirigiendo; El director y la producción; El director y la crítica. While Geirola did indeed follow this outline during the interviews, he felt free to depart from it at SPRING 2006 203 times to follow other lines of inquiry.At times I wished that he had felt even freer to depart from them. For example, when Jesusa Rodríguez stated that she thought very poorly of theatre producers, Geirola did not pursue the issue, but rather moved on to another question. While such missed opportunities were rare, they seemed to happen more often toward the end of the series of interviews. In several cases, time was obviously an issue, for when directors waxed eloquent, some of the lines of questioning had to be abandoned altogether. The most drastic case was that of Luis de Tavira, who maintained an 11-page, single-spaced monologue just to explain how he became a director. In general, Geirola’s interviewing style and line of questioning seemed to invite directors to speak on a variety of important and enlightening subjects, and at the same time made the book quite readable. One line of questioning that seemed a bit out of place was the subject of discrimination in the theatre worlds of Mexico and Peru. Although the topic was interesting, it did not add significantly to an understanding...