Transgresiones espaciales y funcionales: la audiencia en la producción teatral chilena durante el periodo dictatorial de Augusto Pinochet

Abstract

This dissertation focuses on the theatrical production written and staged during Augusto Pinochet’s (1915-2006) dictatorship (1973-1990) and the prevalence of the figure of the audience in the theatrical text and performance. The theatrical audience is explored as a theoretical and concrete example of the fluctuating role deemed necessary of the social audience or citizenry. The focus on the theatrical audience is informed by the expansive theatricality of the Chilean State in its sociopolitical and economic displays; by the exploration of the mechanisms by which the sociopolitical milieu and the theatrical stage and event coincide and inform each other; by the revision of the dictatorial setting through the lens of the theatrical paradigm; and by the inquiry upon the degree of participation, interaction, and influence that the sociopolitical and theatrical performances allow from their participants. This project analyzes the figure of the theatre critic of the period as a means to apprehend the experience of this particular type of audience, but most importantly it explores the spatial and functional transgressions of the theatrical audience in six plays that, in addition to portraying the shifting conception of the participants in the theatrical event, are also indicative of the formal innovations of the Chilean theater of the period: Hojas de Parra (1977) by Jaime Vadell and José Manuel Salcedo, Baño a baño (1978) by Jorge Vega, Guillermo de la Parra and Jorge Pardo, Redoble fúnebre para lobos y corderos (1981) by Juan Radrigán, Cinema Utoppia (1985) by Ramón Griffero, Lo que está en el aire (1986) by Carlos Cerda and ICTUS, and Retablo de Yumbel (1986) by Isidora Aguirre. I argue that by means of the plays’ themes and innovative theatrical techniques, dramatists and directors trigger an active role for the audience that is directly correlated with the social, political, and economic state of their context. The reconceptualization of the role and participation of the audience during the theatrical event proves to be symptomatic of the necessary social and political reorganization of Chile’s social spheres during the country’s dictatorial period.