Historias para ser contadas y la onda de la "narraturgia" en el teatro mexicano del nuevo milenio

Abstract

"Narraturgia," from narrativa and dramaturgia, is a term coined by theorist and dramatist José Sanchis Sinisterra to describe a hybrid genre that intertwines theater and narrative. With echoes of the Greek chorus, the town crier, Epic theater, and Osvaldo Dragún's Historias para ser contadas (1956), Mexico's millennial dramatists speak directly to the audience, seduce them with a story simultaneously narrated and enacted, and lead them to reflect on their place in a world inured to violence. During the past two decades, Alejandro Ricaño, Legom, Édgar Chías, and Enrique Olmos, among others, have taken over the stages of Mexico and captivated younger audiences with their memorable tales and antiheroes. Sanchis Sinisterra's seminal theory sets the parameters for this mode of theatrical expression, while the critical writings of the dramatists themselves suggest that the popularity of narraturgy owes not only to financial restraints but also to the difficulty of dialogue in an atmosphere of fear, corruption, and distrust. Along with simple and amusing anecdotes of daily life, Mexico's narraturgos tell terrifying stories that keep their audience from forgetting the dangerous and violent world that lies outside the theater.