Stridentism, a timeless performance in Veracruz

The Stridentist movement comes to the theatre with the production of Estridentópolis , by Luis Enrique Gutiérrez Ortiz Monasterio, LEGOM, at La Caja, a space of the University of Veracruz Theatre Company.

Under the direction of Hugo Arrevillaga and Karina Meneses, Estridentópolis tells how a crazy dream can become an act of cultural revolution.

The production, which has been acclaimed since its premiere, has generated controversy due to the subject it addresses: the Stridentist movement, which was a huge success in this capital.

The work is set in the last days of 1921 and a unique poster attracted the attention of those passing through the centre of Mexico City: it was a manifesto that proposed a radical change in what was understood by art in the country and was signed by Manuel Maples Arce.

Europe seemed to have a similar tendency and these movements were called avant-garde, but in Mexico and in the way of questioning art and its scenarios, the young people led by Maples Arce gave it another twist, and conceived the stridentist movement, which was minimized by the eyes of critics who classified them as another avant-garde.

So its few members undertook a golden exile in the city of Xalapa, which they immediately christened Estridentópolis, capital of stridencias; Estridentópolis, absurd city, disconnected from everyday reality… As we can clearly intuit, nobody in Xalapa liked the idea,” the theater company says in its program.

The play is a dispassionate and critical homage to the avant-garde impulse and will be on the billboard from Friday, February 28 to Sunday, March 9, with performances on Fridays at 8:00 p.m.; Saturdays at 7:00 p.m. and Sundays at 6:00 p.m. at La Caja, on Calle de la Pérgola sin numero, Zona Universitaria. Admission to the show is free.

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