The Drama of Carlos Solórzano

, THE DRAMA OF CARLOS SOLORZANO Among the members of the present theater movement in Mexico, Carlos Sol6rzano represents a special set of formative circumstances.1 A Guatemalan residing in Mexico, he has never suffered the attraction of the provinces, which has been such an important influence on most of the members of the movement. Since his first play he has demonstrated his adherence to a cosmopolitan theater, and even those works which are set in the provinces avoid narrow regionalism. This orientation is demonstrated in his work as Artistic Director of the University Theater which, despite its title, is comprised of professional people dedicated to the diffusion of the best of modern theater. Among the authors presented since its opening in 1952 are Christopher Fry, Kafka, Pirandello, Irwin Shaw, the contemporary Mexican Emilio Carballido, Sol6rzano himself, Camus (the world premiere of the revised version of Le malentendu, translated by o rzano, as Ben Jonson, and Musset. This eclectic cosmopolitanism is also characteristic of Sol6rzano's own work, which includes three full-length and five one-act plays. They demonstrate remarkable variety, underlining the technical versatility characteristic of Sol6rzano and, in general, of the newer Latin American theater movement. Sol6rzano's first full-length play is Lady Beatriz, first staged in 1952. This "historical auto in three acts," as it is subtitled, follows the fatal trajectory of Beatriz de la Cueva, "The Luckless," wife of the conquistador Pedro de Alvarado. The action takes place in 1541, shortly after the break between Beatriz and Pedro because of the latter's predilection for Indian women. Slowly, Beatriz takes refuge in a growing religious fanatacism and hostility toward the Indians. All efforts at a reunion with Pedro fail, and Beatriz, after losing even her brother Rodrigo, who marries Leonor, the halfIndian daughter of Pedro, dies a virtual suicide refusing to take refuge from a flood. Beatriz dies because of her anguish before the breakdown of 1 All titles and quotations have been translated by the author of this article. The editions to which reference is made are the following: Dona Beatriz, Mexico: Col. Teatro Mexicano, 1954; EI Hechicero, Mexico: Ediciones Cuadernos Americanos , 1955; Las Manos de Dios, Mexico: B. Costa-Amic, 1957; Tres Actos, Mexico: El Unicornio, 1959; "EI Suefio del Angel," in Tercera Antologia de Obras en Un Acto, ed. by Maruxa Vilalta, Mexico: Col. Teatro Mexicano, 1960. Mea Culpa is unpUblished. 89 90 MODERN DRAMA May traditional values, her inability to adapt to a world which is both geographically and psychologically new. Existing in emotional solitude , she devotes herself to religious work, which does not prevent her recognition of her moral and spiritual vacuum: "And so, now, time does not pass for me, there are days when it seems to me that the sun will not set." (p. 27) When she attempts to reincorporate herself to normal life, she finds that the current of the Conquest has left her behind. "I have fought to seize time between my hands, but, at every moment, what I imprisoned was a different instant...." (p. 78) Her fear of the new, her desire to seize hold of traditional forms, are incarnated in her hatred of the Indians. This is the vital conflict of the play: Europe against America, tradition in conflict with the new, the arid plains of Castile and the fertile jungles of Guatemala . This conflict also exists in two opposing characters: Beatriz, the Spaniard, and Leonor, the half-breed. Without entirely condemning the former's fanaticism, Sol6rzano makes clear his sympathies for Leonor. Symbolically, Beatriz dies in the flood, while Leonor escapes. When the waters inundate the city, Beatriz sees the act of an angry God. "All this city, these palaces, these churches built in cruelty.... The water will wash away so much blood shed in this conquest." (p. 83) Her friend Blanca adds prophetically: UNothing will remain: neither of don Pedro, nor of your faith, nor the gold of don Jorge, nor the splendor of Spain. Only Leonor ... Leonorl" (p. 83) Related to this struggle between representatives of two opposing worlds are the diverse influences on the Spaniards. Alvarado represents the dynamism of the conquistador, which finds an echo in the luxuriant fertility...