Modernización en escena: espacio urbano y sainete criollo en el Río de la Plata

Abstract

Abstract:This study examines the urban ludic sphere in the Río de la Plata region during the first decade of the twentieth century, with particular emphasis on the sainete criollo as the main protagonist. The plays analyzed in this article occupied the public sphere through their engagement with socio-economic issues that emerged within the context of rapid modernization. They developed relationships within urban space, modifying it while also incorporating the voices that inhabited it. Furthermore, the intersections between these sainetes and other cultural practices such as carnival, tango, cocoliche, and lunfardo contributed to the building of said sphere. Even though this particular space was only conceivable within the context of urbanization and modernization, the sainete criollo served to question the very same state projects that promoted its formation in the first place. The tensions that informed the urban ludic sphere in the Río de la Plata are prominently on display in Florencio Sánchez’s Canillita (1902), El desalojo (1906), and Moneda falsa (1907) as well as in Carlos Mauricio Pacheco’s Los disfrazados (1906).