Héctor Manuel Vidal (26 August 1943 – 12 January 2014) was a

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

an theater director.

Biography

Héctor Manuel Vidal's training in stage arts began at the school of the group Club de Teatro, in which he performed in over 40 plays. He made his debut as an actor under the direction of

Antonio Larreta Gualberto José Antonio Rodríguez-Larreta y Ferreira (14 December 1922 – 19 August 2015), better known as Antonio Larreta or Taco Larreta, was a Uruguayan writer, critic and actor. Born in Montevideo, he attended Elbio Fernández School. D ...

in ''

Chips with Everything ''Chips with Everything'' is a 1962 play by Arnold Wesker. The play shows class attitudes at the time by examining the life of a corporal. Productions ''Chips with Everything'' premiered in the West End at the Royal Court Theatre on 27 April ...

'', by the English playwright

Arnold Wesker Sir Arnold Wesker (24 May 1932 – 12 April 2016) was an English dramatist. He was the author of 50 plays, four volumes of short stories, two volumes of essays, much journalism and a book on the subject, a children's book, some poetry, and ot ...

. His first experience as a director was in 1969 with ''La víspera del degüello'', by the Chilean , staged internally. His premiere as a director before the public was in 1974 at the , with ''

Woyzeck ''Woyzeck'' () is a stage play written by Georg Büchner. Büchner wrote the play between July and October 1836, yet left it incomplete at his death in February 1837. The play first appeared in 1877 in a heavily edited version by Karl Emil F ...

'' by

Georg Büchner Karl Georg Büchner (17 October 1813 – 19 February 1837) was a German dramatist and writer of poetry and prose, considered part of the Young Germany movement. He was also a revolutionary and the brother of physician and philosopher Ludwig Büchn ...

. Two of his plays, ''

Rhinoceros A rhinoceros ( ; ; ; : rhinoceros or rhinoceroses), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) in the family (biology), famil ...

'' by

Eugène Ionesco Eugène Ionesco (; ; born Eugen Ionescu, ; 26 November 1909 – 28 March 1994) was a Romanian-French playwright who wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost figures of the French avant-garde theatre#Avant-garde, French avant-garde th ...

and ''

Life of Galileo ''Life of Galileo'' (), also known as ''Galileo'', is a Play (theatre), play by the 20th century Germany, German dramatist Bertolt Brecht and collaborator Margarete Steffin with incidental music by Hanns Eisler. The play was written in 1938 and re ...

'' by

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

(1983), premiered during the 1973-1985 civic-military dictatorship. From these premieres, and given their topics, theater critics recognized Vidal's ability to choose the most appropriate works and themes for the socio-political context of his country. Another important work in his career as a theater director was ''

Breaking the Code ''Breaking the Code'' is a 1986 British play by Hugh Whitemore about British mathematician Alan Turing, who was a key player in the breaking of the German Enigma code at Bletchley Park during World War II and a pioneer of computer science. Th ...

'' by

Hugh Whitemore Hugh John Whitemore (16 June 1936 – 17 July 2018) was an English playwright and screenwriter. Early life and education Born at Tunbridge Wells, Kent, son of Samuel George Whitemore (1907-1987), a clerk at an oil company, and Kathleen Alma, né ...

, about the life of

Alan Turing Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher and theoretical biologist. He was highly influential in the development of theoretical computer ...

, with more than 300 performances. Other plays included ' by

Pedro Muñoz Seca Pedro Muñoz Seca (20 February 1879 – 28 November 1936 ) was a Spanish comic playwright. He was one of the most successful playwrights of his era. He wrote approximately 300 dramatic works, both '' sainetes'' (short vignettes) and longer play ...

, '' Inodoro Pereyra (The Renegade)'' by

Roberto Fontanarrosa Roberto Alfredo Fontanarrosa (November 26, 1944 – July 19, 2007), popularly known as ''El Negro'' Fontanarrosa, was an Argentine cartoonist, comics artist and writer. During his extended career, Fontanarrosa became one of the most acclaimed ...

, '' No Man's Land'' by

Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A List of Nobel laureates in Literature, Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramat ...

, '' A Respectable Wedding'' by Bertolt Brecht, and ' by

Lope de Vega Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio (; 25 November 156227 August 1635) was a Spanish playwright, poet, and novelist who was a key figure in the Spanish Golden Age (1492–1659) of Spanish Baroque literature, Baroque literature. In the literature of ...

. In his more than four decades as a theater director, he also directed works by

Ramón del Valle-Inclán Ramón María del Valle-Inclán y de la Peña (born in Vilanova de Arousa, Galicia, Spain, on October 28, 1866, and died in Santiago de Compostela on January 5, 1936) was a Spanish dramatist, novelist, and member of the Spanish Generation o ...

Maurice Maeterlinck Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count/Comte Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the 1911 Nobel Prize in ...

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

Henry Miller Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1980) was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi-autobiographical novel that blended character study, so ...

, and

Jean-Luc Lagarce Jean-Luc Lagarce (; 14 February 1957 – 30 September 1995) was a French actor, theatre director and playwright.Communist Party in 1961. Before the 1973 coup d'état he wrote for the newspaper ', a party press organ, and its political humor supplement ''Misia Dura''. He worked at

Banco de la República The Bank of the Republic () is the central bank of Colombia. It was initially established under the regeneration era in 1880. Its main modern functions, under the new Colombian constitution were detailed by Congress according tLey 31 de 1992 O ...

until he resigned to dedicate himself to the theater. Years later he left the party. He was general and artistic director of the

Comedia Nacional The Comedia Nacional () is the national theatre company of Uruguay. Founded in 1947 as a state entity with the aim of producing theatrical works with its own stable troupe of actors and the collaboration of artists and technicians, it is one of t ...

twice – from 1996 to 1998 and from 2001 to 2006. In 2006 he resigned due to disagreements with the

Intendancy of Montevideo The Intendancy of Montevideo is the executive and administrative branch of the Department of Montevideo. Functions The government entity functions as a second level of government, under the national government. It handles issues regarding t ...

's Department of Culture. He was the husband of actress and theater director Margarita Musto. His daughter María Vidal Musto is a theatrical actress.

Awards

* 1982 – for ''

'' * 1985 – Costa Rica's * 1986 – Florencio Award for '' A Respectable Wedding'' * 1988 –

Fraternity Award The Fraternity Award () is an honor given annually by the Uruguayan branch of the Jews, Jewish organization B'nai B'rith. History The Uruguayan branch of B'nai B'rith created the Fraternity Award in 1982, to promote the arts and to support nation ...

from

B'nai B'rith B'nai B'rith International ( ; from ) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit Jewish service organization and was formerly a cultural association for German Jewish immigrants to the United States. B'nai B'rith states that it is committed to the se ...

Uruguay * 1994 – Florencio Award for ''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vidal, Hector Manuel 1943 births 2014 deaths People from Canelones Department Uruguayan communists Uruguayan male stage actors Uruguayan theatre directors

Biography

Awards

Further reading

References