Cecilia, our Spanish teacher, suggested we go to see a show by the Grupo de Teatro Catalinas Sur which is a community theatre in La Boca. Their website has a section in English and it gives their history, they started at barbeque, but had to wait until the return of democracy to be allowed to perform...

" We are still a neighborhood group and although many of us do not live in the quarter, we are still a group from La Boca del Riachuelo. We work in the neighborhood and are acknowledged followers of the traditional artistic forms performed in the quarter which has been the birthplace of the popular arts: puppeteers, musicians, actors, artists originating from the old continent or from our Latin America and who mingled their art, like a crucible with the neighborhood. The operetta, the zarzuela (brought here by the Italians and the Spanish), the sainete (that mixture of local immigrants in the boarding house courtyard), the circus (the birthplace of our national theatre), the murga (of standing tradition in La Boca), the candombe (fundamental in the development of popular music and dance) and the art of puppetry, all art forms which were born in the quarter, are taken up, mixed together and thus offer atmosphere to our Group’s productions and through which we offer tribute." (There's more on the site in the history section)

Outside the theatre some of the neighbours set up a parrilla (naturally) and sell choripan and empanadas and cakes... all home made, all very tempting. Ceclia came along, as well as Marco and Julia (two of her students from Montreal) and Christian, a friend of hers from BA. We stood outside the theatre munching on 'chori' with chimichuri (chilli and oregano - I think) while loads of people came to eat, either before the show or just because it's value for money.

The show we saw was called Venimos de Muy Lejos (We came from far away) and it's a story of the immigrants who arrived in La Boca. There's a cast of twenty or so and it's a performance largely in song. A big part of the dialogue was in Italian (or a weird mix of Italian and Spanish) but with some little parts of German and Yiddish as well. We all enjoyed it a lot, and we even got some of the jokes...    ¶ 4:12 PM