Fernando Arrabal Research Articles

History as Ritual: Fernando Arrabal’s L’arbre de Guernica and the Panic Historical Film

ABSTRACT In the present article, L’Arbre de Guernica (Fernando Arrabal, 1975) is analysed. The aim of this paper is to study the suitability of an experimental film as a representation of the past. In the first part, I analyse its aesthetics, following the research developed by authors such as González, Monreal or Sánchez, who have studied Arrabal’s Panic Theatre. The goal of this subchapter is to apply the traits of his theatre to his cinema – which has been scarcely studied—, in order to conclude whether his films can also be considered as part of his panic creations or not. In this part, the concept of the ‘Panic Ceremony’ will be crucial to understand the logic of the film. The second part delves into historical film studies. Following the works of post-modern historians such as Rosenstone, White or Ferro, I study if the film works not only as a panic film, but also as a valuable experimental historical film. I conclude that L’Arbre de Guernica can be understood as a panic creation, in which the Panic Ceremony is crucial for its representation of the past, thus successfully working as an experimental historical film.

Sexualidad y disidencia en la obra de Fernando Arrabal

En este artículo pretendemos analizar la presencia y la importancia de las sexualidades no normativas, o que escapan a la función reproductora, en la obra de Fernando Arrabal, autor español, nacido en Melilla en 1932, “desterrado” en París, donde vive desde 1955. El trabajo está dividido en tres partes: en la primera, expondremos la relación que existe entre Eros y Thanatos para dilucidar las relaciones que se establecen entre erotismo y pulsión de muerte, entre amor y sufrimiento en su obra; en la segunda parte, abordaremos el Deseo homosexual para exponer los aspectos narcisistas y sadomasoquistas del mismo que aparecen en la creación arrabaliana; en la última parte, titulada Placeres fálicos, nos centraremos en ciertas prácticas sexuales como la masturbación o la felación para mostrar el valor simbólico y “pánico” que adquieren en la producción del autor. Constataremos que Arrabal, como autor comprometido, pretende desprenderse de la represión que los regímenes autoritarios ejercen sobre las personas que expresan una sexualidad disidente. Para ilustrar nuestra tesis, nos serviremos principalmente de obras “pánicas” de los años 1960 y 1970. In this article, we aim to analyse the presence and the importance of non-normative sexualities, those which escape the reproductive function, in Fernando Arrabal’s work, a Spanish author, born in Melilla in 1932, exiled in Paris where he has lived since 1955. The work is divided into three parts: first, we will expose the existing link between Eros and Thanatos in order to elucidate the association that is established between eroticism and death pulsion, and between love and suffering in his work; then, we will approach the Homosexual Desire in order to expose the narcissistic and sadomasochistic aspects of this fascination which appear in Arrabal’s creation; finally, in the third part entitled Phallic Pleasures, we will focus on some sexual practices such as masturbation and fellatio to show the symbolic and “panic” value that they acquire in the creation of the author. Thus, we will prove that Arrabal, as a committed author, is trying to get rid of the repression that authoritarian regimes exert on people expressing dissident sexuality. To illustrate our remarks, we will mainly use “panic” works from the 1960s and 1970s. Dans cet article, nous envisageons d’analyser la présence et l’importance des sexualités non normatives, celles qui échappent à la fonction reproductrice, dans l’œuvre de Fernando Arrabal, auteur espagnol, né à Melilla en 1932, exilé à Paris où il habite depuis 1955. Le travail est divisé en trois parties: d’abord, nous exposerons le lien existant entre Eros et Thanatos afin d’élucider les relations qui s’établissent entre l’érotisme et la pulsion de mort, entre l’amour et la souffrance dans son œuvre; ensuite, nous aborderons le Désir homosexuel en vue d’exposer les aspects narcissiques et sadomasochistes de cette fascination qui apparaissent dans la création arrabalienne; enfin, dans la troisième partie intitulée Plaisirs phalliques, nous nous centrerons sur certaines pratiques sexuelles telles que la masturbation et la fellation pour montrer la valeur symbolique et “panique” qu’elles acquièrent dans la création de l’auteur. Ainsi, nous constaterons qu’Arrabal, en tant qu’auteur engagé, essaie de se débarrasser de la répression que les régimes autoritaires exercent sur les personnes exprimant une sexualité dissidente. Pour illustrer nos propos, nous nous servirons essentiellement des œuvres “paniques” des années 1960 et 1970.

Le Nouveau Théâtre: 1946–2017. Études réunies par Jeanyves Guérin

Appearing front and centre in the nouveau théâtre were bewildered characters, struggling to make sense of pointless destruction in an increasingly unrecognizable world. Suffice it to say that, half a century after they were written, the plays from this period resonate with us. The most comprehensive study of the nouveau théâtre to date, this volume contains not only essays, but also a highly detailed chronology of authors and plays from the period, and illuminating inventories of the plays published by Gallimard, those staged at the Festival d’Avignon, and the languages into which they have been translated. In his introductory chapter, volume editor Jeanyves Guérin identifies Jacques Audiberti’s Quoat-quoat, staged in 1946, as the first nouveau théâtre work. Examined across the chapters are other plays that appeared the same year, by Jean Genet, Henri Pichette, and Michel de Ghelderode, who are analysed alongside Arthur Adamov, Fernando Arrabal, Samuel Beckett, François Billetdoux, Roland Dubillard, Georges Schéhadé, Jean Tardieu, Jean Vauthier, and Romain Weingarten. Throughout, illuminating and nuanced comparisons between the various authors’ approaches to theatrical innovation are revealed by the book’s ten contributors. Marguerite Duras and Nathalie Sarraute are mentioned cursorily: the nouveau théâtre, which peaked during the 1950s and 1960s, is conspicuously dominated by men. Like its parallel ‘movements’ the nouveau cinema and nouveau roman, the nouveau théâtre, variously termed ‘anti-théâtre’ (Georges Neveux), ‘absurdist theatre’ (Martin Esslin), or ‘théâtre nouveau’ (Michel Corvin and Geneviève Serreau), ruptured conventional aesthetic codes. Many of the chapters in the book describe how playwrights revolutionized theatre by exploding dramaturgical practices such as linear plot, rational argument, comprehensible meaning, recognizable character, intelligible time, or coherent space, and instead presented disassembled figures in shattered landscapes. But the collection provides more than a mere accessible, informative account of playwriting styles and registers of the period. A number of chapters offer particularly original perspectives, notably Hélène Laplace-Claverie’s study of the féerie — the anti-realist use of spectacular, playful, or childlike language and effects; Gilles Ernst’s investigation into the representation of violent death, the figure of the afterlife, and the relationship between death and sex; and Nathalie Macé’s enquiry into the prevalence of the character of the author across nouveau théâtre plays, of which she provides an impressive inventory. The book’s enquiry covers a period that leads up to shortly before its publication date, and more contemporary authors such as Bernard-Marie Koltès, Jean-Luc Lagarce, and Wajdi Mouawad are mentioned, albeit briefly, as successors. A wide-ranging chapter on the legacy of the nouveau théâtre today, might have included some more contemporary playwrights from France, for instance Noëlle Renaude and Magali Mougel, and indeed from further afield, for example Caryl Churchill and debbie tucker green, currently the UK’s two most artistically original and politically potent playwrights, who were all inevitably influenced by the eruption of theatrical invention taking place in mid-twentieth-century France. This expansion of the field of the nouveau théâtre into today’s theatrical panorama would have offered the added advantage of redressing its gender imbalance.

El arquitecto y el emperador de Asiria: Arrabal, el canibalismo y la imaginacion de América

The objective of this work is to identify Fernando Arrabal’s play El arquitecto y el emPerador de ASiria (1966) as an allegory of colonialism and show how this is built upon some elements of the imaginacion de America (Miguel Rojas Mix). Specific tropes, among which are quoted the fountain of youth and the cannibalism, allow to place the play as a transatlantic text that dialogues whit the different discourses of the colonization of America, especially with the chronicles of the explorers of the colonial period. Likewise, different aspects of the American stereotype are updated in a parody of the ethnographic discourse, like the good savage and the acculturated.

Entre la tragedia griega y las películas de carretera: Iré como un caballo loco (1973) de Fernando Arrabal

El presente texto realiza un análisis de la estructura narrativa, y de la estética y contenido de la obra cinematográfica de Fernando Arrabal Iré como un caballo loco (1973). Más allá de su reconocida trayectoria como dramaturgo, esta obra singular construye de forma profunda y estructurada una narración compleja, llena de referentes biográficos, literarios y mediáticos, más allá de la simple apariencia de caos, confusión y absurdo. La intertextualidad de su estructura narrativa obliga a realizar un análisis cualitativo e interdisciplinar, para llegar a los aspectos más escondidos e insospechados de la película, donde nada es casual. Entre las principales aportaciones se encuentran la dualidad narrativa y estructural que la conecta tanto con Esquilo como con las películas de viaje y carretera.

페르난도 아라발작(作) 《게르니카》: 춤-연극에 나타난 광적의식(狂的意識)과 시적표현(詩的表現)의 집단페이소스(Group Pathos)연구

‘공황연극(Panic theatre)’의 미학을 실천하며 현대 전위연극의 기수인 페르난도 아라발 작품《게르니카》의 실제 춤-연극 창작을 통해 광적의식과 움직임의 시적표현에 나타난 집단페이소스를 분석하였다. 분석논리는 인간의 내면적 대립과 모순의 이원적 요소를 근거로 비현실과 비논리를 뛰어넘는 부조리극의 페이소스 특성에 기초하였다. 작품《게르니카》에서 부조리 춤은 광적의식에서 비롯된 집단페이소스 현상으로 나타났으며, 단계적인 몰입구조를 통해 시적표현의 연계반응과 춤 표현의 새로운 소통구조의 틀로 분석되었다.

‘Minister of Horses’: Samuel Beckett according to Fernando Arrabal

This study takes the form of a chronicle of the life-long friendship between Samuel Beckett and Spanish playwright Fernando Arrabal. First, the circumstances in which they became acquainted will be explored. Then, that streak of irreverent humour shared by both writers will be discussed, especially in relation to their interest in Surrealism. Following this, the Spaniard's opinions on Beckett's partner, Suzanne Deschevaux-Dumesnil, will be considered. Finally, Arrabal's trial for blasphemy in 1967 is examined in detail, including Beckett's letter in his defence.

Del exilio a la escena internacional: el teatro de Fernando Arrabal en Brasil

This article offers an overview of Fernando Arrabal’s theatre in Brazil. Following the first stagings by Sao Paulo amateur companies in the late fifties, two major performances in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro took place in 1968 and 1970, which boosted the author’s popularity and brought about a large number of his texts’ stagings across the country. We will also assess the excellent nature of the press reviews on these productions as well as the impact of Arrabal’s work upon Brazilian theatre.

부조리극 환도와 리스에 나타난 비사실주의 연기에 관한 연구

제1,2차 세계 대전을 통해 유럽인들은 전쟁의 참담함과 잔인함을 겪게 된다. 이러한 환경 속에서 그들은 신과 인간 세계의 질서에 대한 근본적인 의문과 회의를 품게 되고 이러한 현상은 실존주의 철학으로 나타나게 된다. 부조리극은 이러한 실존주의 철학을 바탕으로 만들어진 연극의 한 장르이다. 이 연극은 전통적인 사실주의 연극에 반하는 형식을 가졌으며 인간과 사회의 부조리함을 그 내용으로 하였다. 여러 부조리 작가 중에 프랑스의 페르난도 아라발은 자기만의 독특한 형식과 내용으로 인간의 부조리한 상황을 표현하였는데 그의 작품 중 <환도와 리스>는 어린아이의 모습을 통해 어른 세계의 부조리함을 표현한 작품이다. 이 작품 속에는 보통의 부조리극이 가지는 특징들과 이 작품만이 가진 비사실적 여러 요소들이 많이 있다. 특히 이 작품의 부조리극 연기 창조를 위해 배우는 사실적인 연기 접근 방법의 활용뿐만 아니라 본 작품의 철학과 사상을 연구 분석하며 모든 부조리극적 특징들을 찾아 자기화를 시켜 역 창조의 창조적 바탕으로 삼아야 한다. 그러한 바탕 위에서 역할의 성격과 감정 그리고 행동을 파악하고 음성과 움직임 등의 비사실적 연기창조를 고민해야만 한다. 이러한 연기자의 창조 과정이 있어야 믿을 수 있고 신뢰할 수 있는 부조리극 연기를 창조할 수 있다. Europeans experienced the horror and cruelty of war through the first and second World Wars. They began to raise fundamental questions and doubt about the preexisting World Order of God and humans leading to the birth of Existentialism. The Theater of the Absurd is one of the genres in theater resulting from the existentialist theories. The Theater of the Absurd has a format opposed to the traditional Realist Theater and emphasize the absurdity of human and society's existence. In particular, Fernando Arrabal who is a French Absurdist playwright, expressed the absurd human conditions using his unique forms and contents and his work 'Fando et Lis' depicts the absurdity of the adult world through the eyes of a child. Many unrealistic elements typical and inherent in the Absurdist plays are present in his work. Especially, the actors were required to apply not only the realistic acting approach but also to study and analyze characteristics of all Absurdist plays and internalize them based on the creative foundation of recreation. Then, they were asked to examine the characters' personality, emotions, and actions and think hard about creating an unrealistic action of voice and movements. This creative process by actors is a must in developing the reliable and trustworthy Absurdist acting.

Análisis de Fando y Lis, una Obra del Teatro del Absurdo de Fernando Arrabal

The present study investigates the Theatre of the Absurd for the Spanish playwright, Fernando Arrabal, particularly the first phase of his works. Fando y Lis (1955), which is considered one of the most remarkable works in this period, was selected for analysis. Born in Melilla (1932), Arrabal chose a voluntary exile for himself in France since 1955 owing to the repressive regime of Franco. Framing himself in a queer and controversial pattern, he is one of the famous Spanish playwrights in the second half of 20th century. Because of his audacious works, he surpassed his contemporary writers to the global recognition. His works are popular in Europe and are highly appreciated by critics, especially El arquitecto y el emperador de Asiria (1977) and El cementerio de Automóviles (1977). The author began his career with quite creative works of art. He wrote plays where death is ever present not as a destination from a philosophical point of view, but as a ritual ceremony. In Fando y Lis, Arrabal presents a universe dominated by anxiety and meaningless, using the most absurd dialogue and situations, strange and inconceivable objects. Fando y Lisis a work marked by its absurd scenes, dialogue incongruous repetitive language and presents characters who are on their way to Tar (walking to get the reality, happiness, freedom, heaven, etc.). Through Fando y Lis, we try to prove the literary and artistic value of Arrabal works, and how they reflected the crises and destruction that happened in Spain and Europe after the Civil Spanish War and World War II.

이중자아 이미지를 표현한 무대의상 디자인 개발 - 페르난도 아라발의 부조리극 '장엄한 예식' 무대의상을 중심으로 -

With entering the 21st century, modern people's dark inside and panic are emerging as the talking point on the theater stage. Even in the field of stage costume, the necessity of a research is being demanded through analyzing on psychological anguish and structure of characters. Accordingly, this study aims to allow the stage costume design to be expressed a human being's Doppelg<TEX>$\ddot{a}$</TEX>nger Image, which was elicited through analyzing a work of the play titled Le Grand C<TEX>$\acute{e}$</TEX>r<TEX>$\acute{e}$</TEX>monial by a playwriter Fernando Arrabal, who draws the conflictory and contradictory duplicity, which positions in a human being's deep inside by having chaos as catalyst. A research subject is 'Le Grand C<TEX>$\acute{e}$</TEX>r<TEX>$\acute{e}$</TEX>monial,' which was staged as the winter performance in commemoration of the 50th anniversary for the foundation of Dept. of Theater, Chung-Ang Univ. in November 2009. Psychology of characters in a play, which varies dimensionally, could be delivered, as nonverbal element called costume, by applying costume design of Cavanoza, Syl, Nice to Doppelg<TEX>$\ddot{a}$</TEX>nger Image such as Innocence vs Cruelty, Purity vs Superficiality and Restraint vs Freedom, which were elicited through analyzing characters. Through this study, the costume, which was expressed by visualizing a human being's Doppelg<TEX>$\ddot{a}$</TEX>nger Image, could be known to function as important dramatic factor of allowing character's psychology to be understood through costume as well as functioning as visual and sensible language, which is important for communication with the audience. A research on costume design, which reflects a character's complex inside, is expected to be likely continued through in-depth analysis on a playwriter's intention and on the appearing characters at the current point of time when an active research is being performed on stage costume in the wake of this study.

Presidential Address 2006: It Must Change

This year marks the centennial of Samuel Beckett's birth, and the celebrations around the world have been a wonder to behold. From Buenos Aires to Tokyo, from Rio de Janeiro to Sofia, from South Africa (where Beckett did not permit his plays to be performed until apartheid was ended) to New Zealand, from Florida State University, in Tallahassee, to the University of Reading, from the Barbican Theatre, in London, to the Pompidou Center, in Paris, from Hamburg and Kassel and Zurich to Aix-en-Provence and Lille, from Saint Petersburg to Madrid to Tel Aviv, and of course most notably in Dublin, 2006 has been Beckett's year. Most of the festivals have included not only performances of the plays but also lectures, symposia, readings, art exhibitions, and manuscript displays. Paris Beckett 2006, for example, cosponsored by the French government and New York University's Center for French Civilization and Culture, has featured productions of Beckett's entire dramatic oeuvre, mounted in theaters large and small all over Paris, and lectures by such major figures as the novelist-theorists Philippe Sollers and Hélène Cixous, the playwrights Fernando Arrabal and Israel Horovitz, and the philosopher Alain Badiou. To round things out, in 2007 the Pompidou Center will host a major exhibition of and on Beckett's work.

Tan lejos, tan cerca (review)

Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies 297 stract models rather than real-life observation . I doubt that many critics today would disagree with her. After her husband died in 1943, Carmen finally achieved a style of life that suited her. Sharing an apartment with her two sons and PÃ-o, she enjoyed more time to herself. She was able to reconstruct some of the memoir she had written over the years but that had been destroyed during the Civil War. Unfortunately, she died only seven years later, before she could convert her newfound freedom into a more extensive literary career. Recuerdos de una mujer de U Generaci ón del 98 is required reading for anyone interested in the "field of cultural production " (to borrow Pierre Bourdieu's apt phrase) in the first half of the twentieth century in Spain. It is a paradox that just when some scholars are attempting to discard the Generation of 98 as a literary category, a text surfaces in which a woman (member ofthe sex excluded from histories of the Generation ) claims to have been very much a part of it. Not only did she participate in many of the epochal experiences with the writers and artists we normally associate with the so-called Generation, she was endowed with the same independence of thought (as is abundantly evident in her memoir). Amparo Hurtados edition is accompanied by a useful introduction, helpful notes, and an end glossary identifying the more obscure proper names mentioned in the memoir. It also contains interesting photographs of Carmen Baroja and other figures ofthe era, many of which have not appeared elsewhere in print. Editing of the text itself has been designed to retain Carmen Baroja's words intact. Roberta Johnson University of Kansas Tan Ujos, tan cerca Tusquets Editores, 1998 By Adolfo Marsillach Adolfo Marsillach's autobiographical memoirs take us through April, 1998 documenting a remarkable career of over fifty years in the theater as actor and director. And the story continues; after the publication of the book, he returned to the stage for the first time in seventeen years opposite Nuria Espert in Who's Afraid ofVirginia Wolf, staged in Seville in May, 1999. The first few chapters of this lengthy work establish Marsillach's talent as a writer, his sense of humor and his ability to engage the reader. After that opening, entitled "Cinco observaciones previas y una nota imprescindible," he begins a largely chronological account of his life which provides the reader with an overview of theater activity in Spain during the past half century. Much of the book is anecdotal in nature, and accounts of Marsillach's relationships with women are interspersed with his presentation of the evolution of his career in all of its facets. Students of Spanish theater will find a wealth of interesting material about directors , actors, Spanish theater and film throughout this very readable autobiography . What is disappointing, however, is the lack of in-depth analysis of Marsillach's interpretation of some of the characters he portrayed and of his preparation for those roles. The volume reminds us that he was Carlos in the piemiete of Antonio Bueio Vallejo's En la ardiente oscuridad, but fails to provide any genuine analysis ofthe character and of the actor's interaction with Buero concerning his approach to the role. There is, however, a more thorough discussion of the notorious incident with Fernando Arrabal when that playwright sought 298 Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies to have the performances of The Architect and the Emperor of Assyria cancelled because of his dissatisfaction with Marsillach's direction . Marsillach does not hesitate to express negative opinions about the talent and/ or personal intergrity of a number of wellknown figures from Spanish theater. One especially interesting item discussed in the book is the impact of the visit of The Living Theater on Spanish theater. Yet anecdote often receives more emphasis than indepth analysis, and the absence of an index is a frustrating liability. Marsillach's memoirs end with an account ofthe diagnosis and treatment ofthe prostate cancer with which he has lived for the past few years. He shows great courage in sharing many intimate details of his...

Spanish sources of Fernando Arrabal's theatre of the grotesque: Goya, Valle‐Inclán and buñuel

This article seeks to demonstrate the central role that the grotesque plays in the theatre of Fernando Arrabal and to consider some of the Spanish artists whose work shaped his use of that aesthetic mode. Francisco de Goya emerges as the pivotal figure whose paintings and etchings provided the impetus for a number of twentieth‐century luminaries working in several different media. Goya's work along with the esperpentos of Ramón del Valle‐Inclán and the films of Luis Buñuel influenced Arrabal, whose unique form of total theatre in the spirit of Antonin Artaud combined the ideas of that French theorist with the dark humour, scatology and blasphemy of his Spanish predecessors.

The Festive Play of Fernando Arrabal

The Festive Play of Fernando Arrabal

The Festive Play of Fernando Arrabal

The Festive Play of Fernando Arrabal

The Festive Play of Fernando Arrabal by Luis Oscar Arata (review)

The Festive Play of Fernando Arrabal by Luis Oscar Arata (review)

Luis Oscar Arata, "The Festive Play of Fernando Arrabal" (Book Review)

Luis Oscar Arata, "The Festive Play of Fernando Arrabal" (Book Review)

The Festive Play of Fernando Arrabal by Luis Oscar Arata

94 Comparative Drama Luis Oscar Arata. The Festive Play of Fernando Arrabal. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1982. Pp. 104. $9.50 Fernando Arrabal has been well served by American book-length stu­ dies of his work. Peter Podol’s Fernando Arrabal (Twayne, 1978) and Thomas John Donahue’s The Theater of Fernando Arrabal (New York University Press, 1980) both treat their subject in satisfying breadth. If Luis Oscar Arata’s slender volume at first glance seems unprepossessing by comparison, its worth is proved by a careful reading. The Festive Play of Fernando Arrabal has the advantage of narrowed focus (on Arrabal’s less “self-conscious” plays, those written before 1972) and the application of a critical construct that is highly appropriate to those plays under consideration. Arata’s Introduction places Arrabal’s early plays in the tradition of episodic theatre, a form he sees as “natural” for dramas that—like child’s play and festive celebration—attempt to assimilate as much as possible of the world, rather than accommodating that world through imitation. Episodic form, he says, neglects the restrictions of plot-oriented dramas and “permits an overaccumulation of dramatic materials” in “expansive juxtapositions.” To explore such works, a non-Aristotelian perspective is needed. Chapter 1, “The Form of Play,” elaborates those ideas in relation to the festive, all embracing spirit of the god Pan, from which Arrabal derived his vision of a Panic theatre. The Panic manifesto stresses memory, chance, and confusion, all of which give impetus to the act of playing or of creating. Nevertheless, some sort of “Apollonian constraint” must be applied to the Dionysian confusion of the playwright’s material if it is to be offered to a theatre public. Arrabal’s constraints or “unifying schemas” are discussed in Chapter 2, “Armatures.” Chapter 3, “The World in Pieces,” surveys what materials are assimi­ lated in the course of Arrabal’s playwriting/play, and examines the raw, “pre-ideological” form in which those materials are presented. Anyone who has wanted to appreciate Arrabal’s plays but been repelled or dis­ quieted by their scatology, eroticism, and blasphemy will find this key chapter valuable for the way its situates those elements in a comprehen­ sible perspective. It is often a mistake of judgment for literary critics to speculate about a play’s potential realization through performance. Arata does so in Chapter 4, and “Visions, Dreams, and Other Nightmares” is the only unevenly written chapter in the book. Strindberg, Appia, Gordon Craig, and Artaud are invoked in quick succession in order to validate by association Arrabal’s use of scenic space. Similarly, the discussion of the vocal “modulations” or “tonalities” with which Arrabal’s dialogue should be delivered is a muddy passage in Arata’s generally crystalline analytical style. This chapter is redeemed to a certain extent by some insightful observations about the unchanging character of Arrabal’s dreamer-pro­ tagonist in opposition to the continuous metamorphosis of all else in his dream-creations. Further ramifications of the oneiric dimension in Arrabal’s theatre are discussed in the excellent final chapter, “The Feast of Pan.” Sensory Reviews 95 images from Arrabal’s dream world are seen to be unleashed by the dramatist upon a theatre audience without any apparent rational shaping of that material. Communication is dependent upon the play’s awakening of a festive spirit in the spectator just as a festival participant must enter a world of “primordial chaos” in which normal prohibitions are trans­ gressed, until the return to order at the end of the festival. According to Arata, “Arrabal’s dramas perform the festive double gesture of decon­ struction and re-creation by presenting the world in pieces and holding the fragments within basic structures whose existence does not become totally evident until the end” (p. 81). Arata raises provocative questions about the potential audience for a theatre that functions as a festival but whose participants (spectators) come together without a common cause to celebrate. Like Arrabal’s end­ ings, which do not offer resolutions but “the possibility of new beginnings,” Arata’s book points the way to further work on the inexhaustibly rich creations of Arrabal. Arata does not pretend to tackle...

The Festive Play of Fernando Arrabal

The Festive Play of Fernando Arrabal