Classic Reception in the Cuban Theater of the 21st Century: the “Tetralogy” of Yerandy Fleites

Abstract

Although in the mid-20^th century Antigones, Electras and Medeas appear in the Latin-American drama, in the Cuban theater, after a first moment in the sixties in which a good number of such versions were written or premiered, it is from the end of the nineties and, most of all, in this 21^st century, that certainly the Cuban theater knows a second boom in classic reception. It is remarkable the intention of Yerandy Fleites, a young playwright who wrote a sort of tetralogy about very young classic heroines: Antigone, Electra, Medea and Iphigenia. He began this project around 2005, he publishes Antígona in 2007; Jardín de héroes, his version of Electra, in 2009; and Un bello sino, about Medea, in 2010. The publications of Ifigenia (tragedia ayer), however, was delayed until 2015. These works are markedly metatheatrical, parodic and with multifaceted links of intertextuality. Analysing the reception strategies in these four works is the purpose assumed by this paper in order to point out how they maintain their dialogue with the Classics. The objective is to point at variations concerning the resources and perspectives generally assumed in the past century, but that reveal a similar intention of appropriation aimed to creatively generating a new version. A new verson that will both express and reflect about concerns inherent to the historical moment and social context of its author.