Acercamientos al teatro actual (1970-1995)

Abstract

Acercamientos al teatro actual (1970-1995). Ed. by Fernando de Toro and Alfonso de Toro. Frankfurt am Main: Vervuert, 1998. 253 pages. As is the case with many collections of articles written by different specialists, the one edited by Fernando and Alfonso de Toro contains a combination of texts of unequal value and usefulness. The book is divided into four parts. The first consists of three articles discussing algunas refiexiones fundamentales. In the second section, there are six studies on new tendencies in contemporary theatre (including post-modernist traits and staging). The two articles in part three are devoted to technology and anthropology in the theatre whereas the six articles in the fourth section discuss, among others, the connections between cinema and theatre. Although some of the articles consider in a more detailed manner aspects of the Latin-American theatre, a number of them concentrate on significant theatre topics beyond the Hispanic world. In the space allotted to us, it will not be possible to review the seventeen articles in the collection. Although there is overlapping among them, each is an independent unit. Thus, this review will concentrate on those studies discussing issues of interest to this reviewer. In El porvenir del teatro en las fronteras de la modernidad by Luis de Tavira, the author uses excessively rhetorical discourse and, therefore, sheds little light on the promised subject. From the outset, Tavira speaks of certain significant theatre changes. In attempting to explain his views, he fails to define his terms and, therefore, here and elsewhere in the article one is faced with generalities which do not add anything new to what most in the field already know of the topics under scrutiny. On occasion, perceptive comments such as nuevo no esta en lo que vemos, sino en el modo en que vemos (14) are included without much elaboration. Throughout, there is an abuse of brief references to playwrights, theatre critics, thinkers, etc. which does not contribute substantially to providing a comprehensive view of the theatre nowadays. Consider, for instance, the famous quote of Max Estrella in Luces de bohemia on the links between heroes and the esperpento. The reference is so brief that its presence may be considered an example of name-dropping (not to mention that the quote is erroneously attributed to Valle-Inclan when, in fact, it comes from a character; in sum, the author of the article seems to ignore the basic narratological distinction between author and character). From time to time, certain significant historiographical concepts are blended in such as manner as to render them almost useless (for instance, modernity, vanguard, post-modernity) whereas too much space is devoted to the definition of oxymoron a well-known term to most in the field. …