Morphology of confinement: public space and scenic expressionism during the last military dictatorship in Argentina (1976-1983). The case of Visita (1977)

Abstract

The following study aims to analyze the political resonances of the spatial conceptions in the play Visita (1977), written by Ricardo Monti and directed by Jaime Kogan at the Payró Theatre. In the first part of the study we will point out some specific features of the censorship device developed by the military regime and its impact on the structure of “public space”, as well as on the modes of production of the cultural field. Then, we will focus our analysis on the spatial conceptions that can be seen in the play, both at the level of the dramatic text and in the staging strategies deployed in the mise-en-scène. In both cases, we will observe the re-elaboration of a series of procedures linked to theatrical expressionism, which affected the characteristics of the performance and its spatial imaginaries. Our study is based on some theoretical assumptions elaborated by David Harvey (2006) and Edward Soja (2008, 2010) about the social construction of space, its articulation with the development of artistic productions and its political connotations. Both in their thematic aspects and in their formal dimension, the spatial imaginaries deployed by Visita can be read as a symptom and a metaphor of the obstruction of “public space” and the dynamics that social behaviour assumed during the last military regime.