• Challenging Theater in the Special PeriodA review of Bretton White, Staging Discomfort: Performance and Queerness in Contemporary Cuba
• Katherine Ford (bio)

Given the country’s unique history and connections with the United States, especially since 1959, Cuba and its theater hold a singular interest for Western scholars, particularly those in the United States. Within Cuban studies, queerness and identities that challenge traditional definitions have occupied more and more space in the arts produced and analyzed on the island and beyond, although these spaces have been contested within official discourse. Bretton White’s Staging Discomfort: Performance and Queerness in Contemporary Cuba situates itself at these crossroads, adding to art and scholarship that seeks to understand the role and portrayal of the body and queer theory in Cuban theater at a particularly difficult historical moment: the Special Period in Times of Peace, an extended and extensive economic crisis beginning in 1991 as a direct result of glasnost and perestroika in the Soviet Union. The Special Period restricted financial aid to the island nation, and was perhaps the most serious challenge to the Revolution. For the theater that White examines, the body—in particular, reproducing the physical discomfort and difficulties associated with life in Cuba at that time— takes center stage in order to highlight what defines and distinguishes Cuba during the Special Period, often posing direct challenges to official definitions from the state. While there are other studies of the arts in the Special Period and of Cuban theater since the Revolution, White’s Staging Discomfort is a welcome and necessary addition given its attention to queer studies within performance. These two areas need further scholarly exploration and will benefit Cuban studies and theater studies alike.

Physical discomfort is central to the theater White analyzes. White focuses on five theatrical works that foreground the bodies of actors and even spectators: Carlos Díaz’s 2007 production of the German play Las relaciones de Clara (Dea Loher, Klaras Verhältnisse, 2002); Baños públicos, S. A., by Esther Suárez Durán (written in 1994, published in 1996, awarded the UNEAC prize in 1998, and staged in 1999); El Ciervo Encantado’s production of Pájaros de la playa (2004); Chamaco, by Abel González Melo (read in 2005, published in 2006, and staged in Havana in 2006); and Perros que jamás ladraron (2012), written and directed by Rogelio Orizondo. Attention to the body is important in these plays because physical discomfort was a central, quotidian reality of the Special Period. Given the scarcity of food, clothing, and other goods, the body and its needs occupy much if not all thought of the Cuban people during this time. This reality is conveyed in the performance of these plays through the portrayal of sex workers who exchange sexual favors for gifts or food, for example, or is experienced by the audience in the lack of air-conditioning in the theater in which the play is staged. White’s analysis focuses on challenges to dominant definitions of identity and sexuality from the Revolution, showing that the body is central to these challenges. Her emphasis on same-sex intimacies reveals what she calls “an aesthetics of differentiation rather than assimilation” (21).

Staging Discomfort considers the role that queerness plays in theater performance in Cuba’s Special Period. As White underlines, theater, unlike other aspects of the Cuban art world, “is art by Cubans and for Cubans” (213). Theater is not a genre in Cuba for tourists or passers-through. This can be limiting for the theater community because engaging with the international art world can offer economic opportunity. On the other hand, an examination of Cuban theater allows scholars to see an art world created by and for Cubans. Scholars approaching this work from outside Cuban studies will thus benefit from the comprehensive contextualization that White presents to help understand and situate these works. Staging Discomfort positions the role of theater within the Cuban Revolution of 1959 and after, underlining the official incorporation of the arts into the definition and consolidation of the Revolution. Theater, or course, was...

• 特殊时期具有挑战性的剧院布雷顿·怀特的评论，舞台上的不适：当代古巴的表演和酷儿
• 凯瑟琳福特（生物）

鉴于该国独特的历史和与美国的联系，特别是自 1959 年以来，古巴及其剧院对西方学者特别是美国学者产生了独特的兴趣。在古巴研究中，挑战传统定义的酷儿和身份在岛上和其他地方生产和分析的艺术中占据了越来越多的空间，尽管这些空间在官方话语中受到质疑。布雷顿怀特的舞台不适：当代古巴的表演和酷儿将自己置于这些十字路口，增加了艺术和学术，试图在一个特别困难的历史时刻理解身体和酷儿理论在古巴戏剧中的作用和描绘：和平时期的特殊时期，一场长期而广泛的经济危机开始1991 年，作为苏联公开化和改革的直接结果。特殊时期限制了对岛国的财政援助，这也许是对革命最严重的挑战。对于怀特检查的戏剧，身体——特别是再现当时与古巴生活相关的身体不适和困难——占据了舞台的中心，以突出特殊时期古巴的定义和区别，经常直接挑战来自国家的官方定义。Staging Discomfort是一个受欢迎且必要的补充，因为它关注表演中的酷儿研究。这两个领域需要进一步的学术探索，并将有益于古巴研究和戏剧研究。

身体不适是怀特分析剧院的核心。怀特专注于五部突出演员甚至观众身体的戏剧作品：卡洛斯迪亚斯 2007 年制作的德国戏剧Las relaciones de Clara（Dea Loher，Klaras Verhältnisse，2002 年）；Baños públicos, S. A ., 作者 Esther Suárez Durán（1994 年创作，1996 年出版，1998 年获得 UNEAC 奖，1999 年上演）；El Ciervo Encantado 制作的Pájaros de la playa (2004)；Chamaco，作者 Abel González Melo（2005 年阅读，2006 年出版，2006 年在哈瓦那上演）；和Perros que jamás ladraron(2012)，由 Rogelio Orizondo 编剧和导演。在这些戏剧中，对身体的关注很重要，因为身体不适是特殊时期的核心、日常现实。鉴于食物、衣服和其他物品的匮乏，身体及其需求在这段时间占据了古巴人民的大部分（如果不是全部）思想。这种现实在这些戏剧的表演中通过对性工作者的描绘来传达，例如，他们用性恩惠换取礼物或食物，或者观众在演出该剧的剧院缺乏空调时体验到这一点. 怀特的分析侧重于革命对身份和性的主流定义的挑战，表明身体是这些挑战的核心。

Staging Discomfort考虑了酷儿在古巴特殊时期的戏剧表演中扮演的角色。正如怀特强调的那样，与古巴艺术世界的其他方面不同，戏剧“是古巴人的艺术，也是为古巴人服务的艺术”（213）。在古巴，戏剧不是游客或过路人的流派。这对戏剧界来说可能是一种限制，因为与国际艺术界的接触可以提供经济机会。另一方面，对古巴戏剧的考察让学者们看到了一个由古巴人创造并为古巴人创造的艺术世界。因此，从古巴研究之外接触这项工作的学者将受益于怀特提出的全面语境化，以帮助理解和定位这些作品。分期不适定位剧院在 1959 年及之后的古巴革命中的作用，强调艺术正式纳入革命的定义和巩固。剧院，或者当然，是……