Deja que los perros ladren; Vina (Let the dogs Bark; Vina).

• Author: Mujica, Barbara

Although Sergio Vodanovic has long been one of Chile's most respected playwrights, his works have been practically unobtainable, even in Santiago. The Pehuen edition makes available two of Vodanovic's best known works, Deja que los perros ladren (1959) and Vina (1964), both extremely popular in the sixties and still performed in Chile and elsewhere. (The first of the two was made into a movie.) An overview of Vodanovic's contribution to the Chilean stage by Juan Andres Pina follows the text, and a bibliography of the playwright's work through 1990 brings the book up to date.

Deja que los perros ladren offers a critical look at Chilean society and institutions. Esteban, a lawyer by profession, is head of the Department of Health, a position that his father held before him. Guided by a sincere respect for the law, Esteban has carried out his duties honestly and efficiently for years but has never made a fortune. While his wife admires his high moral character, Octavio, his son, is beguiled by the lure of material benefits.

A crisis occurs when the Minister, an old school friend of Esteban, asks him to declare unhealthy the working conditions at an opposition newspaper so that the government can close it down. If Esteban fails to comply, he will lose his job. Although he struggles with his conscience, Esteban, supported by his wife and finally his son, decides to take a stand against the corrupt government. "Let the dogs bark," Esteban tells Octavio, for the insults and threats of the Minister's pawns will only serve as a stimulus to reform.

Although the corruption Vodanovic describes is still rampant throughout Latin America, today Deja que los perros ladren, with its complete lack of humor and classical structure, seems outdated and simplistic.

Vina, on the other hand, demonstrates that in the sixties the author was beginning to experiment structurally. This dramatic work consists of three short plays "to be performed in bathing suits." In El delantal blanco (The White Apron), a spoiled, vacuous upper class woman who is spending the last days of summer at the beach at Vina...