El puro lugar de la violencia: docufricción escénica en la ciudad de Xalapa, Veracruz

Abstract

As a response to the climate of violence that permeates Mexico in the ongoing "war against drug-trafficking," many independent theatre groups are staging documentary or "expanded" performances that seek to problematize the official narratives of history. I argue these groups stage docufriction to examine the zones of friction created by artists that blur the boundaries of documentary facts and aesthetic intervention. As an example, I address a site-specific project called El puro lugar (The Very Place) by Teatro Línea de Sombra and the Veracruzana University's Theatre Company. I examine the interweaving of space, place and time in this long-term production spanning several "chapters" during the course of nine months in 2016. I pay attention to the staging of documentary objects, traces of violent events in the city if Xalapa that unsettled the participants' memories. The project facilitated the performance of shared testimonies and the affirmation of a collective presence to resist the bio-politics of fear.

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