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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 January 2009
Largely as a result of the experimentation and stability of the university theatres founded in the early 'forties, Chilean theatre is among the best-established in Latin America. But how far has its survival since 1973 depended on the regime's sense of the theatre's relative impotence to effect change? Little is known about Chilean theatre in Britain, few plays have been translated, and with rare exceptions those that have found their way here have been limited to ‘solidarity’ audiences. In this article. Catherine M. Boyle, who teaches in the Department of Modern Languages of the University of Strathclyde, considers the various kinds and qualities of theatre that have been produced in Chile since 1973, and draws some conclusions about the nature of freedom of expression and its repression.
1. The creation of the university theatres in the early 'forties had an important impact on the future development of theatre in Chile, providing stable groups, training, and a new environment for actors, directors, and playwrights alike. For a good, if short, English account of this period see Jones, Willis Knapp, ‘Chile's Drama Renaissance’, Hispania, XLIV (1961), p. 89–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2. For an account of the Teatro Aleph's imprisonment and exile see Dorfman, Ariel, ‘El teatro en los campos de concentración: Entrevista a Oscar Castro’, Araucaria de Chile, VI (1979), p. 115–46.Google Scholar
3. See ‘Los estragos de la IVA’ (‘The Ravages of VAT’), Hoy (Santiago), 14 Jan. 1981.
4. See ¿ Cuántos años tiene un día? in Teatro chileno de la crisis institucional 1973–1980 (Antología critica), eds. Hurtado, María de la Luz, Ochsenius, Carlos, and Vidal, Hernán (Santiago: CENECA and University of Minnesota Latin American Series, 1982), p. 192Google Scholar. All translations of titles and quotations from the plays are my own.
5. In April 1975 the government set up a scheme called the Programa de Empleo Mínimo, the minimal employment scheme, whose aim was to absorb 35,460 unemployed workers, paid onethird of the minimum wage.
6. See Hurtado, María de la Luz and Ochsenius, Carlos, Maneras de hacer y pensar el teatro en Chile: Teatro Ictus (Santiago: CENECA, 1984), p. 75.Google Scholar
7. For a full analysis of Tres Marías y una Rosa see my ‘Images of Women in Contemporary Chilean Theatre’, Bulletin of Latin American Research, V, No. 2 (1986), p. 81–96.
8. Casa de campo has been translated as House in the Country by Pritchard, David and Levine, Suzanne Jill (London: Penguin, 1983).Google Scholar
9. For a good account of the work of Teatro El Angel in exile in Costa Rica and on return to Santiago, see Thomas, Charles P., ‘Chilean Theatre in Exile: the Teatro El Angel in Costa Rica, 1974–1984’, Latin American Theatre Review, XIX, No. 2 (1986), p. 103–7.Google Scholar
10. In October 1982 General Pinochet announced that the situation of the exiles should be revised as a ‘measure for national unity’ and lists of those who could return were drawn up.
11. It must be noted, however, that the company was not entirely free from repression. One of the actors received death threats by phone, and a theatre prize awarded the author was later withdrawn when, all of a sudden, the play was considered of dubious merit.
12. See Donoso, José, El jardín de al lado (Barcelona: Seix Barral, 1981), p. 52.Google Scholar
13. ANTACH, the National Association for Amateur Theatre Groups of Chile, survived from 1968 until 1973, when it was disbanded, but it has acted as a model for other attempts to organize popular theatre.
14. Juan Radrigán is a prolific author with around fifteen works produced to date. Eleven of these, including those mentioned here, can be found in Radrigán, Juan, El teatro de Juan Radrigán (11 obras) (Santiago: CENECA and University of Minnesota, 1984)Google Scholar. Pueblo del mal amor and Los borrachos de luna have recently been published in Santiago (Editorial Ñuke Mapu, 1987).
15. Of the plays mentioned here the following have been published: in Teatro chileno de la crisis institucional 1973–1980 (Antología crítica), eds. Hurtado, María de la Luz, Ochsenius, Carlos, and Vìdal, Hernán (Santiago: CENECA and University of Minnesota Latin American Series, 1982)Google Scholar: Teatro Ictus, ¿Cuántos años tiene un día?, p. 139–95; David Benavente and Taller de Investigación Teatral, Tres Marías y una Rosa, p. 196–248; Marco Antonio de la Parra, Lo crudo, lo cocido y lo podrido, p. 308–39. Los payasos de la esperanza, by Taller de Investigación Teatral, was published in Apuntes (Santiago), (1978), p. 27–80. Regreso sin causa by Jaime Miranda, Pedro, Juan y Diego by Teatro Ictus and David Benavente, Primavera con una esquina rota by Teatro Ictus and Mario Benedetti, Cinema Utoppia by Ramón Griffero have, as far as I know, not been published, and I am grateful to the authors for allowing me access to manuscripts.