Set against the backdrop of Argentina's Dirty War from 1976 to 1983, these two plays delve into the harrowing realities of conflict and its lasting impact on society. Through intense character portrayals and gripping narratives, the works challenge audiences to confront the moral complexities of war and the human experience within it. The plays serve as a profound exploration of trauma, memory, and the struggle for justice in a world marked by violence and oppression.
Exploring the complexities of sensitivity training, this play offers a provocative and humorous take on the challenges of addressing social issues. It delves into the absurdities and misunderstandings that arise in the quest for inclusivity, showcasing characters who navigate awkward situations with both wit and insight. Through sharp dialogue and unexpected scenarios, the narrative highlights the tension between good intentions and real-world implications, making it a thought-provoking commentary on modern societal norms.
Guillermo Verdecchia is primarily known for his award-winning plays; Citizen Suárez is his first book of short stories, and it is a remarkable debut.These stories take on the quintessential issues forced upon a generation betrayed by their citizenship―a betrayal the more profound because it subsists primarily in the global death of the nation-state. These are stories about people travelling, wandering or lost between countries and languages―people caught between the impulse to flee and the desire to belong. Sex, geography and politics grip the protagonists of these pieces, demanding promises, compromises and resolutions. These are stories about power―personal, civic, sexual, filial, political―and how, lubricious, it slips between the fingers. Quiet, careful, witty, they document and celebrate survival―consolations, complicities and accommodations in the face of indifference, cruelty and fear. The characters of these stories are known to the reader, intimately known, because they are revealed to us in the way that only we know ourselves―in those darkest recesses of the desires and fears we imagine, we hide from others, and thus, also from those we love. Most astonishing of all for a writer venturing into a new genre for the first time is the elegant surety of his style―Verdecchia speaks in these stories with the fatalistic lyricism of Lorca, the philosophical ambiguity of Paz, and the emotional scalpel of Márquez.
Plays with caricatures in reverse by making "gringos" and WASPs, rather than Latin Americans, the objects of ridicule.