Play brings Sarmiento’s complex legacy to the stage
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In Argentina, Juan Francisco Dasso wrote a play about Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, a former president, and Juan Leyrado stars as the historical figure.
The project began when people noticed Leyrado’s physical resemblance to Sarmiento, who led the country from 1868 to 1874. Leyrado then proposed a theatrical exploration of Sarmiento’s ideas and contradictions. Dasso structured the play around the idea of Sarmiento giving a master class to a modern audience, drawing inspiration from Terrence McNally’s Master Class.
He wanted to present Sarmiento confronting contemporary issues with his own past beliefs. Dasso acknowledged the difficulty of fully capturing Sarmiento’s life and work, given the vast amount of written material, including his book Facundo and Recuerdos de provincia, covering politics, journalism, education, and travel. Dasso aimed to avoid portraying Sarmiento as simply good or bad, instead embracing the contradictions inherent in his character. He believed a complete and certain opinion of Sarmiento was difficult to achieve.
The play uses historical documents to create a theatrical character without becoming a purely academic reconstruction, allowing Sarmiento to debate his era and the present day.
