Perhaps it was a woman -or two- the reason why the liberator José de San Martín left Peru in the hands of Simón Bolívar in 1822 and not just the exhaustion and disrepute it suffered after the war. That’s what slides Guayaquil, a love storythe play that delves into one of the mysteries of the time.
“In my case, I am very struck by his ambition about Bolívar, he was hungry for power”, but also “his jealousy of his women, in this case of Manuelita (Saenz)”, her lover in those years, commented to Eph the peruvian actor Alonso Cano, who plays the man from Caracas in the play that premiered on Thursday, June 2, 2022, in Lima.
“In the case of Manuela, I love that she is a brave woman”, who shares the ideal of making America independent, and “falls in love with Simón and accompanies him until the end,” the actress noted. Cindy Diazwhich brings him to life on stage.
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Meeting without witnesses
Accustomed to hearing of the liberators as visionary warriors, with great political ambitions, Both the Argentine general José de San Martín and Bolívar had other facets and personal reasons that could have prompted them to succeed each other in the government of Peru, after the independence of 1821.
This is the premise that the Argentine playwright considered Mario Diamond in writing Guayaquil, a love story that recreates, in a fictional tone, the famous meeting between San Martín and Bolívar in the Ecuadorian city and that marked the subsequent resignation of the Argentine liberator from the government of Peru in 1822.
About “this interview in Guayaquil, which is the meeting between San Martín and Bolívar, nothing is known because in reality they were alone talking, everything is speculation,” said the director of the work, Javier Valdés.
love and power
“What Mario (Diament) tells us is that the big problem between San Martín and Bolívar was a skirt issue, a love issue for Manuela and Rosa (Campusano, partner of San Martín)that’s where he begins to recreate that moment and what this meeting could have been, “explained Valdés.
The apparent duel between the liberators is triggered, in the work, when they learn that their respective partners were also their partners and that they know all their secrets and thoughts.
“They were two women who were married, one becomes a lover of Bolívar, the other of San Martín, but thanks to that they also influence the liberators themselves, they have a certain influence, (…) They are precursors of the feminist movement, from my point of view”, expressed the director of the play.
This theater piece was premiered in Lima in October 2021, the bicentennial year of Peru’s independence, with such success that its production company Butaca Film is reviving it this year for a second season.
The play will be on stage for a month, until July 3 at the Mario Vargas Llosa theater.
Heroes of the Bicentennial
The cast, which is completed by Omar García, Andrea Luna and Giovanni Arce, among others, is made up of the same actors who represented the liberators and other characters of the independence of Peru in the television series the last bastionavailable on Netflix.
“Javier (Valdés) thought of us to continue these characters and the interesting thing is that here is the full humanity of the character: this is how he gets upset, this is how he shows jealousy, the claims, the couple fights, the backstage,” Díaz underlined about the ingredient of the liberators and their companions in this piece.
For Cano, the resignation made by San Martín, in reality, “was an intelligent deal” because he knew that “his mandate in Peru was finished”, and, on the other hand, Bolívar “got away with it” by receiving that charge.
However, 200 years after that cry for independence, “we are still the same, we have not been able to understand, nor understand, nor learn absolutely anything. Things are still the same as at that time, it’s impressive”, said the director. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
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