Outside Theater: Alliances That Shape Mexico by Stuart A. Day (review)

Stuart A. Day in his Outside Theater: Alliances That Shape Mexico, argues that theatre and art offer the potential for social change. In his introduction, Day presents the concept of outside theatre in reference to the Spanish verb lindar. This verb informs his unique method of discussing plays; Day uses literary criticism to support and nurture an activist standpoint. His presentation of outside theatre becomes clearer as one reads beyond the introduction, which could benefit from providing readers with a more structured approach and a solid foundation of the concept of outside theatre. In the introduction, Day explores more thoroughly the idea of alliances. These alliances, he notes, “highlight the (mostly) positive forces emanating from one corner of the art world, and [. . .] offer concrete strategies from a variety of performances that promote individual and collective empowerment that can, in turn, promote a robust civil society” (23). The collaborations that Day explores might be “uncommon,” (5) but they provide an approach that can build solidarity in communities where it is needed most.

In the first chapter, Day explores Flavio González Mello’s play 1822: El año que fuimos imperio. Through a discussion of the jester role, seen in the character of Fray Servando Teresa de Mier, Day highlights the allyship between the jester figure and the audience. His invocation of the jester also connects with his conception of outside theatre, as the jester is “an outside agitator/ally who has access to insiders,” (53) and thus he navigates the “inside” world of the play while maintaining a connection to the outside: the audience. Day further connects the figure of the jester to another outsider, a contemporary clown and political commentator—Brozo el payaso tenebroso. Day’s analysis of the play becomes stronger through this view of the outsider figure of the jester alongside Brozo, and his conception of outside theatre allows him to transcend the boundaries of what otherwise might be expected from textual analysis.

In chapter 2, Day explores the life and political service of Federico Gamboa alongside a reading of Gamboa’s play, La venganza de la gleba. Day reads the play as a work aligned with, but not quite, naturalism, wherein the character of don Francisco is analogous in many ways to Gamboa’s own activities within the government of Porfirio Díaz. Day calls attention to the acting and negotiation that both figures, don Francisco in the play and Gamboa in the government of Díaz, carry out. This reading provides nuance to both the study of the Porfiriato and Gamboa’s play, both of which, Day argues, are important to consider. Though less explicitly tied to the outside theatre thesis, one can see parallels in Day’s interpretation of don Francisco and Gamboa as insider-outsider figures like the jester figure, Teresa de Mier, explored in chapter 1.

In chapter 3, “Zoot Suit Allies and the ‘Arizona Law,’” Day explores Luis Valdez’s Zoot Suit, focusing on the landmark production in 2010 in Mexico City. Weaving together seemingly disparate pieces like the historic Sleepy Lagoon murder trial, the trial’s portrayal in the play Zoot Suit, the 2010 murder of Robert Krentz, Arizona’s SB1070, and the 2010 production of Zoot Suit in Mexico City, Day demonstrates the complexities of cross-border, cross-ethnic organizing in the 1940s, the early 2010s, and today. Day’s reading of the play through these historical events provides a positive outlook, while acknowledging the problematics, of such cross-racial and cross-border organizing. The chapter is complex because of the numerous parts Day brings together, but his clear writing style makes it very accessible, even if one has little knowledge of the historical events he discusses.

Chapter 4, “Moderating the ‘Ignorant Masses’ and the Emergence of Internet Allies,” focuses on the play 9 días de guerra en Facebook by Luis Mario Moncada. In this chapter, Day explores the text and the 2010 production at the National Autonomous...