Personal information

Surname: Cabrujas
First name: José
Middle names: Ignacio
Born: 17 July 1937, Caracas, Venezuela
Died: 21 October 1995

Biography

José Ignacio Cabrujas was born in Caracas, Venezuela in 1937.  During his lifetime he worked as an actor, a playwright a scriptwriter for television he also wrote essays.  Alongside Román Chaldbaud and Isaac Chocrón, Cabrujas founded El nuevo grupo, a theatre company which sought to establish a national theatre in the modern age, which was very influential in the 1960s.

Themes

El día que me quieras explores the power of cultural icons and political ideology in a secular age.  In this play Cabrujas contrasts popular culture and celebrity with the pursuit of high ideals.  These themes run strong throughout his work.  He uses history, and important historical figures, to shed light on the present and is concerned with depicting the intricacies of human relationships and the isolation experienced by individuals.

Style

In El día que me quieras, José Ignacio Cabrujas demonstrates himself as an accomplished dramatist of the family saga, following in the European tradition of Chekov and Ibsen.  He also worked a great deal on producing telenovelas (soap operas) for television in Venezuela, and this genre markedly informs his play writing.  However, Cabrujas's theatre is heavily symbolic at times and a dramatic charge is generated as much from what is not said, as what is said.

Plays in the database

• El día que me quieras (c.1979) / The Day You’ll Love Me

Other works

• Cabrujas, José Ignacio. 1958. Juan Francisco de León (in Spanish)

• Cabrujas, José Ignacio. 1960. El extraño viaje de Simón el malo (The Strange Trip of Evil Simon) (in Spanish)

• Cabrujas, José Ignacio. 1960. Los insurgentes (The Insurgents) (in Spanish)

• Cabrujas, José Ignacio. 1963. En nombre del rey (In the Name of the King) (in Spanish)

• Cabrujas, José Ignacio. 1983. Una noche oriental (An Oriental Night) (in Spanish)

Useful reading and websites

• Balderston, Daniel and Gonzalez, Mike, ed. 2004. Encyclopaedia of Latin American and Caribbean Literature, 1900 – 2003, p. 98. London, Routledge

• Cabrujas, José Ignacio. 1960. Los insurgentes (The Insurgents) (in Spanish)

• Giménez, Leonardo Azparren. 1992. ‘Procesos en el teatro venezolano de los ochenta’, Latin American Theatre Review, 25: 2, 191–6

• Misemer, Sarah M. 2008. Secular Saints: Performing Frida Kahlo, Carlos Gardel, Eva Peron and Selena. London, Tamesis

Entry written by Gwendolen Mackeith. Last updated on 5 October 2010.

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