Theatre for transformative gender justice

Abstract

This chapter explores the potentials and problems of theatre for a transformative gender justice agenda. This is an important problem from the perspective of transformative gender justice, for the play does not face its audience with the need to change gender relations specifically. The potential of theatre to transformatively redress sexual violence during conflict is not, therefore, straightforward. The play is nonetheless open to a similar critique as La cautiva, particularly with regards to the victimising portrayal of rape-survivors as innocent and passive. The chapter compares the techniques, circulation, and reception of three Peruvian plays on rape during political violence. In a country where most consider the period of political violence over and dealt with – and almost entirely ignore its gendered dimension – the play forces an appreciation of the specific experiences of women during the conflict, as well as their ongoing trauma from lack of official and national redress.