Exporting Yeats and Behan to Bogotá

EXHIBITIONLAST WEEK Bogotá saw the opening of an exhibition on the work of WB Yeats at the impressive Centro Cultural Gabriel García Márquez. Supported by the Fundalectura of Colombia and the Irish Consulate, the exhibition marks a growing interest in the work of Irish literature and drama in South America and in the Spanish-speaking world generally.

The publication in 2005 of a bilingual edition, WB Yeats: Antología Poética, with translations by Daniel Aguirre, helped to bring Yeats's work to the attention of a wider Hispanic audience.

In a country where the cultural imprint of the ancient Muisca people is ever present, it is unsurprising that Yeats’s engagement with Celtic Ireland should emerge as a topic of interest among the Bogotános who gathered to view the exhibition.

By sheer coincidence, a production of Brendan Behan's The Hostage( El Rehén, adapted by Jorge Plata) was running simultaneously at Bogotá's Teatro Nacional. Founded by the legendary Argentine-Colombian actor and producer Fanny Elisa Mikey, the theatre opened its doors in 1981 with a production of the same play by Behan. This month it celebrates its 30th year with a revival of El Rehéndirected by Germán Jaramillo, cofounder of El Teatro Libre de Bogotá and one of Colombia's leading actors.

With a play so obviously informed by cultural references from the 1960s, the challenge facing any director is to reimagine it for a contemporary audience. This was wonderfully achieved in a superbly energetic performance by an ensemble cast that spans three generations of Colombia’s leading actors. Ignacio Meneses as Leslie Williams, Laura García as Meg Dillon and Edgardo Román as Mesié (Monsewer) were outstanding.

As a director Jaramillo is known for his attention to craft. In a recent interview in Bogotá's El Tiempohe stated his belief that actors, like classical musicians, should train for five hours every day in the mastery of their craft and body movements, but not in the gym.

Such diligence was clearly evident in a production that was impressively achieved in terms of acting, dancing and singing, and that never made the mistake of regarding Behan’s play as an easy exercise in vaudeville.

Perhaps most striking for this Irish member of the audience was the extent to which Behan’s drama, often regarded as an interesting, if dated, curiosity piece, could come alive again and resonate in ways he could never have anticipated. It’s easy to see why this play, which marks Behan’s progress from a young idealistic rebel to a writer who recognised the futility of political violence, resonates so forcefully in Bogotá.

The play engages with cultural and political topics close to the hearts of most Colombians. One of the biggest causes of public outrage in the country is the high incidence of kidnappings orchestrated by outlawed revolutionary groups. Indeed, in a sombre example of life imitating art, thousands of Colombians across 34 cities took part in protest marches in solidarity with los secuestros(the kidnapped) as the Teatro Nacional entered the second week of its run with El Rehén.

PJ Mathews lectures in Anglo-Irish literature and drama at University College Dublin. His lecture WB Yeats y la Irlanda de Su Épocaopened the Yeats exhibition that is currently running at the Centro Cultural Gabriel García Márquez, Bogotá