La señorita Doña Margarita

“El buey solo bien se lame” [roughly, in this context “An unyoked ox can look after itself”], especially in the company of other oxen.

We like to start introducing the play La señorita Doña Margarita this way because, aside from anything else, it certainly is humorous despite the fact that it addresses a very serious theme: “The Authoritarianism” that exists at all levels of society. And, worst of all, it is exercised by nearly everyone with the ability to do so. That is why Miss Margarita, as a teacher, is an example of how out-dated values are exercised and transmitted from earliest childhood.

Throughout history, ways of thinking have been devised that help control the herd. These forms appear everywhere you look: in sayings and proverbs; in family, friendship and romantic relationships; in labour relationships; and, above all, in education... There is no area free of this pandemic known as POWER, which appears everywhere, at times in a nearly invisible but effective way.

Pay attention to Miss Margarita’s advice because it will prepare you to face an unreal but irrefutable world; because it is wrong, but we will end up defending it tooth and nail when we become “responsible.”

Miss Margarita will cause each of us to not only supervise ourselves but also everyone else, making any special supervision of citizens unnecessary because they handle it themselves, alone or in the company of others. Things happen when we least expect them to, and we have no assurance that history will not repeat itself in these modern times and that we won’t move backwards – even much farther backwards – than we could ever imagine. It isn’t that “no sean tiempos para la lírica” [these are not times for opera]; it's that “these are not times, in general, for almost anything.”
Juan and Petra