Theatre icon Eduardo Pavlovsky dies at 81
Pioneer of psychodrama in Latin America garnered critical acclaim worldwide
Eduardo “Tato” Pavlovsky, famous Argentine playwright, psychoanalyst and actor who left an indelible mark on the local theatre stage, died yesterday, aged 81. He authored widely-praised plays such as El señor Galindez, Potestad and La muerte de Margueritte Duras.
Pavlovsky was born in Buenos Aires, in 1933. Originally trained as a doctor and a therapist, he took a particular interest in theatre and later on became a pioneer of psychodrama in Latin America.
At the same time, he was a prolific playwright, producing a string of successful texts that showed the author’s social awareness and full commitment to the political issues of his time.
His first major success was El señor Galindez (1973), a groundbreaking work that portrayed the double life of a torturer who holds on to his regular job, managing to keep his darker identity hidden from everyone else. Other powerful works include Potestad, Rojos globos rojos, La muerte de Marguerite Duras, La espera trágica, La mueca, Telarañas, El cardenal, Variaciones Meyerhold and Sólo brumas.
During Argentina’s last military dictatorship, in the late 1970s, Pavlovsky fled the country after being threatened and persecuted, and choose the path of exile in Spain. He later told the story of how he had to escape his office through a window to the roofs of adjacent buildings when a paramilitary group went to kidnap him.
He would come back to his homeland in the 1980s, after the return of democracy.
Honoured with the title of Outstanding Citizen of Buenos Aires City in April, 2015, Pavlovsky garnered many accolades and awards, both locally and internationally, for his particular psychoanalytical approach of theatre plays and characters.
“I know my plays are basically political. Because it is in my irremediably political background: my grandfather, exiled from Russia, my father, exiled in Perón’s time, myself being threatened and ultimately choosing exile during the dictatorship. I’m already affected by exile, and I’m particularly interested in where the words may lead us. The things that affect me in real life are the same things I try to rebuild later in my theatre work,” the celebrated author said in an interview.
Pavlovsky also published a novel, Sentido contrario, in 1997. His penchant for acting was not limited to the stage: he starred in a few films, as well, including El exilio de Gardel (1986) and La nube (1998) by well-known filmmaker Fernando “Pino” Solanas. La nube was actually based on Pavlovsky’s play Rojos globos rojos, and it screened successfully at several major film festivals, including Venice and Toronto.
“Mi greatest pleasure comes from acting, but in these last few years I haven’t received any awards for my work as actor or even as playwright; they now focus on the intellectual connection I set between dramaturgy, psychology, and acting, where I could bring many things to the table,” Pavlovsky said in an interview with Clarín newspaper.
Loss mourned on social media
As the news of Pavlovsky’s death reached the social media yesterday, scores of artists, journalists and culture officials flooded the networks with messages of grief or farewell.
Journalist Pedro Brieger was one of the first to break the news on Facebook: “The great Tato Pavlovsky has died. What a sad day…”
“Such grief, a huge loss for Argentine culture. Farewell to one of the great names in our theatre,” tweeted actor Carlos Portaluppi.
“Enormous grief. The great Tato Pavlovsky has died. One of our most genuine and worthy theatremakers. Such a great human being. Hell, we’ll miss him a lot,” said cultural journalist Osvaldo Quiroga.
Herald staff with online media
















