Caputi chooses the term «vulgar comedy» to identify a subtype of comedy and mentions the insufficiency of various names with which it has also been identified -popular comedy, farce, low comedy. He then comments on the identity of this expression: «vulgar comedy does not stimulate serenity, or a wise, sophisticated acquiescence, or an enlarged idea of life. It is unintellectual and unphilosophical. Instead of a residue of thought, it leaves a tingle in the blood» (16-17).

One of Caputi's main characterizations of the buffo, which will be questioned later as it pertains to the Cuban expression, is the notion that it is «an instinctive, uncritical, frenetic species of fun...» (20). Rine Leal, in contrast, does underscore the parodic aspects of the Cuban buffo: «Through parody, charming guarachas and choteo, that genre destroyed the very foundations of the morals of a society still nostalgic about slavery and still singing the praises of [King] Pelayo and Columbus» (18).

Translated by Sydney G. Gest.

As suggested in note 15, after the 1959 Cuban Revolution the theatre of the absurd in the island was openly rejected, since it was considered inadequate to promote the new political principles.

A pertinent example is the scene where the curro de Manglar, whose name is Malanga, encounters Dionisio Jaruco in the area of the Campo de Marte; Jaruco has been stabbed by Pimienta for having offended Cecilia Valdés. Both the dance among the mulattos and blacks (gente de color), where Cecilia is insulted, and the fight between Pimienta and Dionisio, take place in the Campo de Marte (part 2, chap. 17).

See also Taylor's Theatre of Crisis 45-51 and 64-95.

Through parallel strategies, although for different reasons, La noche de los asesinos has also been described in terms of a juxtaposition of various artistic languages and forms. Eduardo Lolo, in his analysis of La noche, underlines, as one of the reasons for the play's universality, Triana's masterful gathering of elements of the Cuban theatre of all periods, such as the biting humor, the quasi-existentialist tone, absurdism by excess, and even elements of the radio soap operas (45).