Raquel Revuelta: An Essential Name in Cuban Theater

To speak the name Raquel Revuelta in the realm of Cuban theater is to acknowledge a legacy of discipline, responsibility as a performer, and a deep love for the craft, inherited from the family of actors from which this celebrated figure came. Today, on the centenary of her birth, she is remembered as a foundational pillar of the stage.

The theater professor, born in this capital city, carries a surname that still resonates powerfully on the stage, the silver screen, and television, mediums where each member of her family affirmed their talent. Raquel was the daughter of Silvia Planas and Vicente Revuelta Revuelta (father), as well as the sister of the renowned Vicente Revuelta.

A founder of the Teatro Popular in 1941, Revuelta's professional career spanned 60 years. She led the group "Teatro Estudio" from its founding in 1958 until shortly before her death in Havana on January 24, 2004. To mention "Teatro Estudio" is to speak of Raquel; more precisely, it is to invoke the Revuelta name, a lineage indispensable to Cuban acting.

The Founding of a Theatrical Legacy

With the establishment of "Teatro Estudio," several of its founding artists came to the fore, including Sergio Corrieri and the Revuelta siblings. This emblematic Cuban company truly emerged with the premiere of "Juana de Lorena" in 1956, by Maxwell Anderson, adapted from the original by Julio García Espinosa and Vicente Revuelta, and directed by the latter.

The company's first staged production was "Long Day's Journey Into Night" by Eugene O'Neill in 1958. It was a major theatrical event, met with notable public acclaim and remaining on stage for several months. The work won four of the awards given annually by the Association of Theatrical and Cinematic Reporters (ARTYC): Best Direction, Best Female and Male Performances, and Best Scenery of 1958. Critics hailed it as the most fruitful theatrical experience and one of the great moments of 20th-century Cuban theater.

A Militant and Artistic Commitment

In 1959, "Teatro Estudio" issued a Second Manifesto expressing its commitment to creating a more militant theater that would address the problems of Cuba at that time and the need to take a social stance, allowing the new era in the country to be reflected in artistic works. The company settled permanently in the Hubert de Blanck Theater from that moment onward (1964).

After the Revolution, the first work staged was "The Good Person of Szechwan" by Bertolt Brecht, a true success and the first introduction for many to the work of the great German playwright. The repertoire of "Teatro Estudio" was of extraordinary quality: Cuban plays by essential and young authors made up almost 50 percent of its productions, alongside classical Spanish theater and modern works. The repertoire also included Latin American theater from Argentina, Colombia, Chile, and Peru, as well as authors from Eastern European countries like Vladimir Mayakovsky, Maxim Gorky, and Brecht.

In film, Revuelta participated in notable works such as "Lucía" (1968), "Un día de noviembre" (1972), "Aquella larga noche…" (1979), "Cecilia" (1982), and "Un hombre de éxito" (1985).