Brechtian Challenges to Theater Artists during the Internal War in Peru

Summary

The experience of the internal war in Peru (1980–2000), in which the Shining Path Communist guerrilla and a repressive state faced each other, meant a tremendous challenge to Peruvian theater artists. Located as it was between these two aggressors, the cultural sphere had to find unique ways to tackle issues of conflict and violence without exposing its participants to reprisal. Between two fires, cultural figures had to discover how to face those fires without getting burned. Interestingly, several Peruvian theatrical figures of the era, particularly from the independent theater, focused on the works and ideas of Brecht as a resource for addressing the social injustice of the armed conflict. They did so without being charged or violently attacked by the opposite side. Peruvian theater artists exhibited a persistent concern for discussing the roots of the evil in social violence while rethinking theoretical and aesthetic paradigms taken from Bertolt Brecht's writings.

Before discussing how important Brechtian aesthetics were for politically engaged theater, it is necessary to highlight how the presentation of violence circulated in the Peruvian theater during the internal war. Unlike many other cultural forms, the social nature of performance evinced the intentions of individual producers—often with great risk. Theater exposes civilian participants to greater risks, given the public consumption and transmission of its messages. Unlike the literary field, which did not require a personal confrontation, Peruvian theater during the internal war circulated artistic messages that addressed the violence, intervening in political life and thus exposing the participants (artists and audiences) to the danger of the war.

Such extreme political violence can help us to understand the unique context in which Peruvian theater artists developed their work during these decades. It can also help to comprehend why certain rhetorical devices in plays (such as fables of foreign places, symbolism, and anti-verbal theater forms, and encryption of messages in complex, surrealist speeches), appeared as appropriate strategies to be implemented in scenes that conveyed highly charged political intentions.

All of the works reviewed here were produced by dramatists and writers involved in what is called independent theater production in Peru, and can be seen as expressions of the concerns Peruvian artists experienced regarding their future after the period of violence.