Catharsis, Neo- Catharsis, Post- Catharsis: Tragic Consciousness and Ethical Ambiguities in Contemporary Theatre

Table of Contents Introduction ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 11 Anxo Abuín González And eduArdo PérezrAsillA Part I. Towards a Theory of the Spectator Catharsis, NeoCatharsis, PostCatharsis: Tragic Consciousness and Ethical Ambiguities in Contemporary Theatre ��������������������� 19 Anxo Abuín González The Ignorant Actor: The Audience as an Agent of (Non- ) knowledge ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 49 ÓscAr cornAGo Public Feminism: Towards a Real Feminist Spectatorship ������������ 67 AnA contrerAs elvirA The Liberating Violence at the End of the Performance: A Time for the Spectator ����������������������������������������������������������������������������� 91 eduArdo PérezrAsillA Intermedial Spectatorship ������������������������������������������������������������ 113 André Helbo 8 Table of Contents From Watchers to Walkers: Spectatorship in Contemporary Spanish Promenade Theatre ��������������������������������������������������������� 129 cristinA oñoro otero And AGustín Pérez bAAnAnte Pedagogies of the Spectator: How (Not) to Teach People How to See Theatre ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 149 belén tortosA PujAnte Part II. Case Studies Insulting the Spectator: A Principle in Angélica Liddell’s Theatrical Poetics �������������������������������������������������������������������������� 175 emmAnuelle GArnier Confronting Affect in the Theatre of Angélica Liddell: Rage and Indignation in the Trilogy of Acts of Resistance against Death ��� 189 cristinA tAmAmes GAlA Leaping into the Arena: Extras, Spontaneous, and Delegated Performance in the Work of La Ribot ������������������������������������������ 215 mAríA bAstiAnes New Spectators for a Classic: Towards the Dispositive Please, Continue (Hamlet), by Roger Bernat and Yan Duyvendak (2011) ����������������������������������������������������������������� 239 GuAdAluPe soriA tomás Poetics of the Viewer. Perspectives of the Director: Andrés Lima, Álex Rigola, Alfredo Sanzol and Pablo Remón ����� 259 mAriánGeles rodríGuez Alonso Table of Contents 9 Audiences’ Transformative Potential: A Performing Arts Journey from Madrid to Medellín ������������������������������������������������ 281 diAnA González mArtín Getting the President to Clean Up: Satire and Parody of Power in Las que limpian (The Chambermaids) by A Panadaría ����������� 301 GAbrielA riverA rodríGuez List of the Authors ������������������������������������������������������������������������� 315 Introduction Anxo Abuín González and Eduardo PérezRasilla1 This volume should be understood in the context of the “postdramatic” (HansThies Lehmann) and “postspectacular” (André Eiermann) paradigms that have put into question traditional concepts regarding representation and role of the spectator in the creation of meaning, and which have also placed the spotlight on the importance of performativity as a strategy to create new scenic perspectives� It deals, therefore, with a new “expansive” textuality that relates to what Claire Bishop (2006 and 2012) has termed the “social turn” in theatrical and artistic practices, embodied in the diffusion of interventionist, collaborative, dialogical or participative forms, forms that are always dissonant and antihegemonic, as demonstrated in the civic commitment that has been characteristic of the Spanish stage in recent years� This is not just an appeal to collective identity, but an attempt to create a public space, an agora, in which spectators can participate in solidarity, sharing ideas and debating freely about the future of the community to which they belong� The aim is to create a strong public, capable of accepting the new performative structures and in this way constituting themselves as counterpublics, ready to resist dominant discourses and create a more democratic and egalitarian reality� Using the terminology of Reinaldo Laddaga (2006), according to which there was once a predominant “aesthetic regimen of the arts”, in which the author wrote isolated from his political context, and the recipient remained a passive spectator of a work presented as fixed and closed, in the new artistic “regimen of practice”, the author involves him or herself in collaborative projects, and the recipient AQ: Note that no opening round bracket for the closing round bracket has been provided in the phrase “on Innovation 20172020)”� Please check and amend necessary� 1 This work is part of the research project “PERFORMA2PERFORMADOS (Metamorfosis del espectador en el teatro español actual” (PID2019104402RBI00), 2020– 2023) [“PERFORMA2PERFORMADOS (Metamorphosis of the Spectator in Contemporary Spanish Theatre” (PID2019104402RBI00), 2020– 2023)], funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, within the State Plan for Scientific and Technical Research on Innovation 2017– 2020)� 12 Introduction becomes a participative agent in works whose borders are unstable and unfixed, invested in plural networks and collective projects� This is a theatre that can be understood as an “expanded field”, which we should value as an opportunity for greater creative liberty and, perhaps, an intensification of the potential of the “hyperconnected multitude”, allowing for the emergence of new ways of experiencing and experimenting with the intersections of the virtual and the real� The contemporary artist has no other option but to confront the world within which they exist with the instruments at their disposal in a given moment, instruments that are described in a new vocabulary: hybridization, process, hypertextual navigation, cooperation, flexibility, interaction… The “new spectator”, if in reality such a thing exists, has also moved away from their traditional position and has accepted the challenge of not just being a “hunter of signs” or a “textual pirate”, to use the image dear to one of the apostles of the socalled “culture of participation”, Henry Jenkins (1992), who himself was writing in the wake of Michel de Certeau (1984), but a creator and coauthor of unique signs that move in unpredictable and rhizomatic ways� The new artistic practices can be understood as “ways of doing” that require complex procedural mechanisms and strategies: the theatrical experience challenges us to invent those “ways of doing” that reestablish an authentic public sphere in the context of today’s social networks� It has to do with approaching the status of the “new spectator” in contemporary theatre, understanding it as a locus in which social, political, and gender identities are negotiated…, and we attempt to do so from the perspective of the new formulations that have arisen to designate the new figures of the spectator emerging in contemporary theatre: ideal (Balme), emancipated (Rancière)� Immersive (Alston, Biggin, Frieze, Machon…), participative (Bishop, White), relational (Bourriaud), committed (Lavender and Walmsley), intermedial (Helbo, in this volume), or expanded (José Antonio Sánchez)� With these approaches, we hope to provide tools for the analysis of contemporary theatre, looking at the work of contemporary authors on both dramaturgical and spectacular levels, and relating these to a “politics of vision” (Olivier Neveux)� We have tried to distance ourselves from a monolithic focus on spectators and audience in regard to their corporeal, sensorial, and affective capacities (Matthew Reason’s “corporal turn”), taking into account questions of attention, memory, and semiosis (the process of attributing meanings) and community (the social dimension)� Contemporary theatre has addressed these issues in many diverse ways, which are reflected in the everincreasing Introduction 13 theoretical terminology of theatrical studies, as is evidenced in the recent Routledge Companion to Audiences and the Performing Arts, coordinated by Matthew Reason (et al): “audienceparticipants”, “playingaudience”, “guest performers” (Machon, 2016, 38), “narratorvisitors”, “extended audiences” (Couldry, 2005), “visitors”, “coplayers”, “participants”, “mobilised spectator” or ”spectactors” (Boal, 2009)� As Herber Blau (1990: 42) and, in an especially interesting contribution, Ben Walmsley (2019) argue, if the theatre of the 19th and 20th centuries deprived the spectator of their critical judgement (distained and domesticated, in the words of Antonin Artaud), today questioning the role of the audience has become fundamental: “Questions of audience engagement naturally beg the fundamental question of what an audience actually is and does� To what extent do audiences constitute a congregation, a collective, a community, or even a public? How do people transform into an audience and how might they best prepare for this transformation?” (Walmsley, 2019, 3)� Of course, these are but some of the possible questions that can frame the audience as a “constructed conscience” of thought and desire, as, again, to use Blau’s words (1990: 25), an increasingly “empowered” and complex entity� In these pages can be found some of the most important figures of recent Spanish theatre, writers and companies whose work has contributed decisively to the configuration of new figures of the spectator� A nonexhaustive list would include Los Torreznos, Angélica Liddell, Roger Bernat, La Ribot, Antonio Fernández Lera, Rodrigo García, El Canto de la Cabra, Laila Ripoll, Mariano Llorente, Andrés Lima, Pablo Remón, Álex Rigola, La Fura dels Baus, or A Panadaría� We have grouped the contributions in two complementary sections� The first, titled “Towards a Theory of the Spectator”, includes chapters with a theoretical bent, although they all offer interpretive commentaries on specific texts and spectacles� The second, titled “Case Studies”, while not abandoning theoretical insights, centres its analysis on specific pieces, authors, or companies� We hope that the final result offers a theatrical panorama that is as rich as it is full of subtle detail and that represents a theatre presupposing an everchanging spectator� References ALSTON, Adam (2016): Beyond Immersive Theatre. Aesthetics, Politics and Productive Participation� London: Palgrave� BALME, Christopher (2008): The Cambridge Introduction to Theatre Studies� Cambridge: Cambridge University Press� AQ: Please note that the cross-reference “As Herber Blau (1990” has not been provided in the reference list� Please provide the same� AQ: Please note that the reference “ALSTON 2016” has not been cross-referred in the text� Please provide the same� AQ: Please note that the reference “BALME 2008” has not been cross-referred in the text� Please provide the same� 14 Introduction BIGGIN, Rose (2017): Immersive Theatre and Audience Experience. Space, Game and Story in the Work of Punchdrunk� London: Palgrave� BISHOP, Claire (2006): Participation� Cambridge: The MIT Press� BISHOP, Claire (2012): Artificial Hells. Participatory Arts and the Politics of Spectatorship� LONDON: Verso� BLAU, Herbert (2009): The Audience� Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press� BOAL, Augusto (2009): Teatro del oprimido� Barcelona: Alba� BOURRIAUD, Nicolas (2002): Relational Aesthetics� Dijon: Presses du Réel� CERTEAU, Michel de (1984): The Practice of Everyday Life� Berkeley: University of California Press� COULDRY, Nick (2005): “The Extended Audience: Scanning the Horizon”, in Marie Gillespie (ed�), Media Audiences, Maidenhead: Open University Press, pp� 183– 222� EISERMANN, André (2012): “Teatro postespectacular� La alteridad de la representación y la disolución de las fronteras entre las artes”, in Telón de fondo, en www�telon defo ndo�org� FRIEZE, James (ed�) (2016): Reframing Immersive Theatre. The Politics and Pragmatics of Participatory Performance� London: Palgrave� JENKINS, Henry (1992): Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture� New York: Routledge� LADDAGA, Reinaldo (2006): Estética de la emergencia, Buenos Aires: Adriana Hidalgo� LAVENDER, Andy (2016): Performance in the TwentyFirst Century. Theatres of Engagement� London: Palgrave� MACHON, Josephine (2013): Immersive Theatres. Intimacy and Immediacy in Contemporary Performance� London: Palgrave� MACHON, Josephine (2016), “Watching, Attending, SenseMaking: Spectatorship in Immersive Theatre”, in Journal of Contemporary Drama in English, 4, 1, pp� 34– 48� NEVEUX, Olivier (2013): Politiques du spectateur. Les enjeux du théâtre politique aujourd’hui� Paris: La Découverte� RANCIÈRE, Jacques (2009): The Emancipation of the Spectator� Nueva York: Artforum� AQ: Please note that the reference “BIGGIN 2017” has not been cross-referred in the text� Please provide the same� AQ: Please note that the reference “BLAU 2009” has not been cross-referred in the text� Please provide the same� AQ: Please note that the reference “BOURRIAUD 2002” has not been cross-referred in the text� Please provide the same� AQ: Please note that the reference “EISERMANN 2012” has not been cross-referred in the text� Please provide the same� AQ: Please note that the reference “FRIEZE 2016” has not been cross-referred in the text� Please provide the same� AQ: Please note that the reference “LAVENDER 2016” has not been cross-referred in the text� Please provide the same� AQ: Please note that the reference “MACHON 2013” has not been cross-referred in the text� Please provide the same� AQ: Please note that the reference “NEVEUX 2013” has not been cross-referred in the text� Please provide the same� AQ: Please note that the reference “RANCIÈRE 2009” has not been cross-referred in the text� Please provide the same� Introduction 15 REASON, Matthew, Lynne Conner, Katya Johanson, and Ben Walmsley (eds�) (2022): Routledge Companion to Audiences and the Performing Arts� London: Routledge� REYNOLDS, Dee, and Matthew Reason (eds�) (2011): Kinesthetic Empathy in Creative and Cultural Practices� Bristol: Intellect� WALMSLEY, Ben (2019): Audience Engagement in the Performing Arts. A Critical Analysis, London: Palgrave� WHITE, Gareth (2013): Audience Participation in Theatre. Aesthetics of the Invitation� Nueva York: Palgrave� AQ: Please note that the reference “REYNOLDS and Reason 2011” has not been cross-referred in the text� Please provide the same� AQ: Please note that the reference “WHITE 2013” has not been cross-referred in the text� Please provide the same� 22 Anxo Abuín González noirs’ qui exigent une ‘atmosphère de carnage, de torture, de sang versé’, […] les images mythiques réveillent dans l’esprit les forces de dissociation et libèrent sur la scène, sans voile ni transfiguration, ‘un jet sanglant d’images’ ” (Dumoulié, 1992: 51), just like a disease that destroys the existing social establishment, thus liberating the most violent drives of the individual� Let’s not fool ourselves: Artaud does not envision any possible healing� All that remains is paradoxes and a lack of closure, unavoidable poison, existence and chaos – such is the Law of life: war, plague, hunger, massacre, madness, Evil… The spectators finally open their eyes; their role is to manage the implacable shadow of violence� Gilles Deleuze read Artaud from a perspective that placed him at the edge of the abyss; as the cry of life, uttered before the constitution of any language; as a delirium of suffering – impossibility turned into poetic and philosophical power� The battle is fought “here”, at the level of the body – that “fecal” body from which he wanted to detach himself� His purpose, just like Nietzsche’s, is to get closer to the idea of “Grande Santé” (Deleuze, 1969: 202– 203)� In the words of Bouillon: “Le philosophe, la penseur, l’ artiste, n’ est pas seulement critique de la société, il porte en lui la vocation de philosophemédecin que Nietzsche recherche� C’est parce que Nietzsche, Artaud, Van Gogh et Deleuze sont malades que se joue dans leur propre corps l’instinct secret de la Grande santé” (2016: 15)� If the world is not right, our role is not to heal it, but to accept it as it is: the concept at play is not that of truth, but rather those of health and life, as Nietzsche suggests in Le Gai savoir (#2) [The Gay Science] and Artaud in Van Gogh, le suicidé de la societé (xiii, 54): “C’est la santé entre deux reprises de la fièvre chaude qui va passer,/ c’ est la fièvre entre deux reprises d’ une insurrection de bonne santé” (1999, 54)� Only from the perspective of disease can we assess the value of life and state its fundamental attributes� What Artaud proposes is a philosophy of intensification that seeks the establishment of a free perception of reality in the face of the ghost of utter extinction: Therefore, I propose a theatre where violent physical images pulverize, mesmerize the audience’s sensibilities, caught in the drama as if in a vortex of higher forces� Theatre, abandoning psychology, must narrate the unusual, stage nature’s conflicts, nature’s subtle powers arising first and foremost as extraordinary derivative powers� Theatre bringing on trances just as the whirling Dervishes or the Assouas induce trances� It must be aimed at the system by exact means, the same means as the sympathetic music used by Catharsis, Neo-catharsis, Post-Catharsis 23 some tribes which we admire on records but are incapable of originating among ourselves (2010: 59)� A theatre of experience, of new forms; experience as the core of life; the spectator at the core of theatre; language finally free – the hieroglyphic� The first wave of resurgence of the idea of catharsis in the 20th century was encouraged by what Christopher Innes called, following Jacques Copeau and Peter Brook, holy theatre – a designation that refers to a mystical aspiration to the transmission of the intangible and the metaphysical revelation of the human spirit, which would lead spectators to a state of emotional harmony and to the celebration of a community identity; a sort of therapeutic experience that was, at the same time, intended to alter the emotional state of the audience by making them aware of their most repressed psyche� What Innes (1981: 25) called avantgarde theatre was also oriented towards a series of therapeutic, almost mystical goals, and intended to reach them through an expressionist, emotionbased form that “transfigured” the spectators, who allegedly became “New Men” after undergoing this experience� Artaud’s “exorcism” sought to release the brakes of civilization, to repair our natural relationship with the spiritual, and to purify the audience’s social violence with images by showing them images of crimes and cruelty� Artaud and Jerzy Grotowski were the irrefutable masters behind this almost religious conversion of theatre: “Like Aristotle, they believe that the spectator leaves the theatre in a condition close to an ideal affective state� The spectacle accomplishes this in much the way music does - through abstract theatrical elements (rhythm, sound, archetypal imagery) rather than through mimesis” (Auslander, 1984: 21)� Grotowski’s Towards a Poor Theatre (1968: 52) shows us that he believes in a universal, elementary language of comprehensible signs and sounds that exist beyond a word’s semantic value; a language of ideograms “which evoke associations in the psyche of the audience” (1968: 39), associations that are spontaneous and immediate – primitive reactions of the I that enable selfknowledge� Grotowski also endorsed the therapeutic quality of catharsis – an idea that grew stronger in his later works� In a late, rather unknown text, he states: If someone wishes to be sincere with regard to his own life, giving it a pledge with his own flesh and blood, one might assume that what he reveals will be exclusively personal, individual� It is not the whole truth, however; there is a certain paradox about it� If one carries one’s sincerity to the limit, crossing the 24 Anxo Abuín González barriers of the possible, or admissible, and if that sincerity does not confine itself to words, but reveals human being totally, it – paradoxically– becomes the embodiment of the total man, with all his past and future history� It is then superfluous to go to the trouble of analyzing, whether – and how– there exists a collective area of myth, an archetype� That area exists naturally, when our revelation, our act reaches far enough, and if it is concrete (1973: 122)� This conception of theatre as a space for celebration, transgression or soulsearching is ratified by the experiences of the Living Theatre (Antigone, 1967) and The Performance Group, whose Dionysus in 69 deconstructed Euripides’ The Bacchae by the means of a ritualistic and ecstatic sexuality that destabilized the audience: Schechner relied on improvisation to articulate a festive ceremony with the power to release the primary emotions of spectators� Naked bodies and musical props encouraged the participation of the audience, who shared the space with the actors in a ritualistic community ceremony (which VasseurLegangneux called “la version hippie du dionysisme” [2004: 62]) that dismembered and reused Euripides’ text in different ways, in every stage event (cf� Brecht, 1968)3� Greek tragedy thus became an initiatory ritual during which a couple of simple actions were used to increase the participation of the audience: taking one’s clothes off, hugging other people, moaning… In the words of Dionysus (actress “JOAN AS DIONYSUS”), Here I am� Dionysus this time� Now I noticed that there were some disbelievers among you when I announced my divinity� If you deny me and my mysteries, if you deny that I was born a god before your very eyes, then you deny truth and you shall suffer for it� If, however, you believe what I tell you, you shall have an extraordinary experience tonight� Together we can make one community� We can celebrate together� Be joyous together� Reach ecstasy together� So join us in what we do next� It is a circle dance around the sacred spot of my birth� It is a celebration of me, of my nativity (Schechner, 1969: n�p�)�4 AQ: “Schechner 1970” has been changed Schechner (1969) as per the reference list� Please check if it is fine� AQ: Note that no closing double quote for the opening double quote has been provided in the phrase ““Thus what actually occurred in”� Please check and amend necessary� 3 Froma Zeitlin (2004: 64) points out that Dionysus in 69 includes 600 of the 1,300 lines of Euripides’ text (of William Arrowsmith’s translation of 1959) plus sixteen lines from Sophocles’ Antigone (Creon’s discourse about the city) and six lines from Euripides’ Hippolytus (the character in Phaedra)� The rest of the play involved improvisations in the style of The Bacchae� 4 Exploring the connections between sacrifice and ritual from an interdisciplinary perspective, Erika FischerLichte (2005: 211– 215) delves into the 1960s to emphasize how the Viennese actionists (particularly Rudolf Schwarzkogler and Hermann Nitsch) invoked the Dionysianorgiastic power of ritual as a means to encourage a cathartic experience for the participants� What Nitsch called the Orgy Mystery Catharsis, Neo-catharsis, Post-Catharsis 25 All dance moves were the result of improvisation, and the energy of the audience was channeled “like a spiral”� The action took place among the spectators, touching them, among a bunch of clunky wooden towers and Theatre developed, between 1963 and 1965, extremely eschatological actions that violently involved the spectators: “The spectators were involved in the action – in later actions they even acted as performers� They were splashed with blood, excrement, dishwater and other liquids and were given the opportunity to do the splashing themselves, to gut the lamb, to mould the intestines, to trample barefoot on them, to consume the meat and the wine” (211)� The sacrifice of a lamb established a connection with Christian passion and human redemption in a violent communion ritual that brought together many elements of the Eucharist, offering a very explicit set of associations� In the Austrian scene, Nitsch dismantled the taboos of Western culture with the aim to offend the audience: “Thus what actually occurred in Nitsch’s actions was the infection of the participants with violence, bringing about a crisis� By doing violence to the corpse of the ‘sacrificial animal’, the lamb, by splashing it with blood, by moulding its intestines, by trampling on them barefoot, the potential of violence that lurks in each and every member of society – according to Girard– was released in the participants, acted out, and thus ‘abreacted’ in a kind of ‘catharsis’, as Nitsch stated – which, from today’s point of view, seems rather dubious (FischerLichte, 2005: 213)� In FischerLichte’s eyes, the participants thus entered a liminal state that “cleaned” them off their own violence� This kind of cathartic purification is also present in Marina Abramovic’s performances: “Norms, rules and securities that had been taken for granted up to then seemed invalidated� Traditionally, in a visit to a gallery or theatre, the part of the visitor/ spectator is defined as that of an observer� The visitor of a gallery views the exhibited works from a closer or greater distance without ever touching them� The visitor of a theatre looks at the actions unfolding on stage without ever intervening even in the case of a deep inner empathy, or even if on stage a character (Othello) sets out to murder another (Desdemona)� […]� In everyday life, however, it is a rule to intervene immediately when someone sets out to hurt himself or another – unless that intervention would seriously endanger one’s own body or life� Which rule applied for the spectator in Abramovic’s performance? Obviously, the artist did actually hurt herself and was willing to continue her selftorture� If she had done so in another public space in the city, no spectator would have hesitated to intervene� But here? Did respect for the artist demand that she should carry out what seemed to be her plan and artistic intention? Would intervening not run the risk of damaging her work? On the other hand, was it compatible with the laws of humaneness to watch her calmly with simple human compassion while she was hurting herself in such a horrible way? Did she even intend to pressure the spectator into taking over the part of a voyeur? Or did she test him in order to find out what else she must do before a spectator would end her ordeal? What rules could be applied?” (2005, 216)� Abramovic creates a situation that faces the spectators with the rules, inbetween ethics and aesthetics, confronting them with a sort of crisis of the conventions that rule social behavior: “The spectators were transferred into a state of radical ‘in between’, into a state of liminality, catharsis” (2005: 216)� Once again, the purpose is to destabilize the spectator by altering their perception of both the world and themselves� 26 Anxo Abuín González a structure that suggested some grandstands� Schechner recounted that Grotowski, who attended one of the shows in November 1968, stated that the acting was “hysterical”, and that the actors’ attire made it difficult for them to do their job properly� From then on, they begun to play some of the parts completely naked� In Innes’ book, the holy stage eventually leads us towards Robert Wilson’s theatre of images, which is presented as something that we would certainly categorize as postdramatic theatre nowadays� The connection between one of the most representative authors quoted by HansThies Lehmann and the field of tragedy has been stressed many times, including the occasion on which Marvin Carlson (2015) pointed out the deconstruction/ disintegration/ sampling of classic texts by some emergent German directors influenced by Heiner Müller: Frank Castorf, Thomas Ostermeier, René Pollesch, Andreas Kriegenberg, Ivo van Hove, and even the very Germanized Katie Mitchell� This kind of revisitation of Greek classics is also present in the theatrical works of Sarah Kane, Mark Ravenhill, Martin Crimp, and Elfriede Jelinek – all of whom are essential referents to understand the current theatre scene and the very concept of postdrama�5 Catastrophe and Disgust: Barker and Kane Howard Barker and Sarah Kane constitute two extremely representative examples of this, for reasons that go beyond the special attention that Lehmann himself devotes to their trajectory� Over the past twentyfive years, Barker has developed his theatre of catastrophe also from a theoretical perspective that is as suggestive as it is coherent� From a perspective that understands theatre as a destabilizing encounter with pain and death (“the most appropriate art for a culture on the edge of extinction is one that stimulates pain”, 1997: 19), the theatre of catastrophe puts the spectator in the realm of a subversive “tragic” where no purification is viable� Arguments for a Theatre (1997), which opens with a witty remark on the impossibility of tragedy and, little by little, unfolds as a treaty about (and 5 In her analysis of postdramatic tragedies (1995– 2015) – which emphasizes the relevance of Schechner’s Dionysus, too– Emma Cole discusses the works of creators like Kane, Crimp, Tom Holloway, The Wooster Group, Punchdrunk, and Jan Fabre� Catharsis, Neo-catharsis, Post-Catharsis 27 against) the audience, tells us that the foundations of such theatre lie in the suppression of realism, meaning, and any other form of accessibility: The Theatre of Catastrophe is more painful than tragedy, since tragedy consoles with restoration, the reassertion of existing moral values� The audience is not flattered with hope, but rather lent pain� It is not taught criticism, but honored with the truth of the absence of truth� It leaves the theatre privileged, but unrewarded� It does not cluck with collective satisfaction, but divided and solitary, it labors with the burden of an art that denies assimilation (1997: 70)� Barker may as well have titled his book Arguments Against a Theatre, because his poetics only gain meaning when born against a theatre that advocates social inclusion or moral certainty (like the theatre we frequently see in television and cinema products)� To him, the Audience is just an invention of the powerful “entertainmentseekers”, always ready to shower us with their “good vibes”� Barker’s tragedies, especially those that come after Victory (1983) do not offer healing nor closure� In the words of David Ian Rabey, At the end there is no restatement of collective principles such as justify Greek and Shakespearean work; the individuals who break the social code, in the essential moment of tragic action, do not apologize, are not brought back into the polis, nor do they necessarily die; they possibly wander off into solitude, into a very empty landscape, and disappear into that… (Rabey, 2009: 29– 30)� In the eyes of the spectator, who is permanently asked to resort to their emotional memory, everything seems out of control in this exercise of passion, risk, excess, and transgression during which the characters (among which is the spectator) reject any “shared wisdom” (a term that evokes Jacques Rancière’s [2010] consensus), in search of their own (ac) knowledge(ment) of the world� In this theatre, there is no room for truth or relatability – all it offers is unchained imagination, excess, chaos, disintegration or lack of closure� Usually labeled as inyerface theatre due to their use of extremely aggressive language (or, in the words of Aleks Sierz [2001], “confrontational”) and visceral, offensive themes, Kane’s works also appeal to the emotions of the spectator with relentless scenes filled with (apparently gratuitous) sex and brutality� The purpose? To release the darkness that we all carry inside� To Kane, theatre is “a bit like […] a vaccine” that protects us against more serious diseases (Saunders, 2003: 97– 110)� In AQ: Please note that the cross-reference “Barker (1983)” has not been provided in the reference list� Please provide the same� 28 Anxo Abuín González Barker and Kane’s works, dramaturgy becomes a tool intended to enable a reinforcement of the perverse, abyssal, paradoxical and sometimes enigmatic nature of human beings� In her study on dramatic disgust throughout history (I assume that we can all agree that this has proved to be one of the main topics of the field since the 1960s), Sarah J� Ablett appeals to a primary emotion of repugnance, abjection, and pollution that connects with the contagious quality of theatre and to its potential for purification/ catharsis, but which also introduces, in regard with contemporary art (from Francis Bacon to Damien Hirst), the “return of the real” preached by Hal Foster (1996): through the evocation of disgust and other purely primal emotions, that theatre aspires to induct an affective uneasiness resulting from shock, from the destruction of taboo and the impact of a pure (“more real”) reality; from moral transgression (Ablett: 2020, 75)� If there is such a thing as a dramatic poetics of disgust, Kane earned a place at the top with the first line of her first play, Blasted: “I’ve shat in better places” (1995: 3)� In the five works she has created, disgust sinks in as the sign of a universal crisis of values that unfolds in the intensity of physical violence and mutilation, death… Aleks Sierz draws a connection between these attributes and the reaction of the audience: “The audience had gone to the theatre and emerged shaken, talking, arguing, feeling” (2001: 4)� In fact, this kind of theatre requires the spectator to subject themselves to an emotional shock “that questions our ideas about who we are” (Sierz, 2001: 6), inviting us to destroy the binary oppositions that usually are at the core of our identity: human/ animal, clean/ dirty, normal/ deviant, good/ bad, true/ false, fair/ unfair, art/ life… Affliction and Tragic Pain: Angélica Liddell The main themes of Greek tragedy were family (kinship) and war� Today, many Spanish creators choose this genre to approach the social changes of the last twenty years from a contemporary perspective� As with Barker and Kane, the theoretical perspective and stage practice of Angélica Liddell connect with Artaud’s “affliction” in the use of an oldfashioned style and violent, radical language� In El sacrificio como acto poético (2014), a volume that brings together texts written at the dawn of the century, Liddell unfolds the keys of her “distressed” and “implacable” poetics: the powerlessness and uselessness of language (“distressed, weak, precarious, tired…)” (2014: 17); the contempt towards the informative inflation of our mediatized society; the need to express the pain and humiliation AQ: Please note that the cross-reference “Kane 1995” has not been provided in the reference list� Please provide the same� Catharsis, Neo-catharsis, Post-Catharsis 29 inherent in being human; the impossibility of fully communicating the idea of evil; the reinvention of tragedy as “the highest rampart of human individuality in the face of statal desires and undifferentiated masses ” (2014: 23); the emotional recovery of the spectator (“to make the spectator into a victim, subject to the illness of passions, ibid�); and pathos, the place of suffering – the “agonizing” body6� In words that evoke Artaud, Liddell explains that “Onstage bodies must make us hurt, they must disgust and inflict pain� The body must be corrupt and horrendous with the aim to make the spectator feel guilty” (2014: 26)� Against a conformist, paralyzed, tolerant, and complying society, Liddell wields her theatre of passion – against television terror, she unfolds her poetic violence in a “space of tension” (2014: 46) and she adopts a belligerent attitude intended to incite the spectator to participate in a different way: “We cannot preach for the spectator to change, but we can encourage a different participation, a new perception of reality” (ibid�)� In the last pages of her book (2014: 113), Liddell introduces the moral aspect and the ethical implications involved from an ambivalent perspective: in her eyes, ethics must be “suspended” onstage so that the spectator, liberated, can face the misery of their own existence7� As a playwright, Liddell is also prone to delve into family taboos, usually around the idea of sacrifice – at the core of her theatre poetics– , in a desperate attempt to restore the stage’s holiness� At the time Liddell was writing the essays included in El sacrificio como acto poético, she was also giving the final touches to the plays included in her Trilogía de la AQ: Note that no closing double quote for the opening double quote has been provided in the phrase ““to make the spectator into”� Please check and amend necessary� 6 “Angélica Liddell conçoit la scène comme un space de résistance, elle fait preuve d’un engagement absolu non seulement physique mais également moral� Elle libère ses passions, repousse les limites de la douleur et de la pudeur� Le public est pris à temoin, bousculé, dérangé, à tel point que certain spectateurs s’eclipsent” (Bottin, 2012: 779)� 7 It is not in the scope of this paper to track Liddell’s ethical concerns, which are already present (with an emphasis on catharsis) in her work Mi relación con la comida: “Medicine heals with bitter methods the illnesses that cuisine has caused by the usage of pleasurable but harmful ingredients� / My point is: / Shall theatre be more like medicine or more like cuisine? / You, who work in the field of theatre, answer this to me:/ Shall theatre just please the spectator, or shall it make them uneasy to offer them ethical benefits?” (2005: 50– 51)� In an interview with Cornago, Liddell herself kind of gave an answer to these same questions: “Theatre is a moment of suffering, of shared suffering� […] It is an explicit offer to make [the spectator] participate as a monster� […] It is about individual consciousnesses that get together in the ritual of conflicts of the stage mass – the congregation” (quoted in Cornago, 2005: 319)� Cf� Albert (2016)� 30 Anxo Abuín González aflicción� The characters of El matrimonio Palayrakis, released in 2001, are presented as “destroyed, annihilated, sick” beings, but their circumstances and actions (which include assaulting and murdering a little girl) are justified by their innate evil – a part of them that they will never be able to escape� With clear references to the structure of fairy tales, Liddell creates characters doomed to horror, blood, and the perpetuation of pain: “We are all born with a certain degree of cruelty and evil� The evil in me isn’t greater than the evil in other men” (2004: 95), says Mateo� The role of theatre is to bring to light that misery as a natural thing, something that is inherent in human beings, just as the Narrator says at the end of the play: “After a certain hour, one could see whole families sitting in front of the TV, motionless, motionless, motionless; their eyes empty like Oedipus’ eyes� They, too, knew horror now” (2004: 99)� We, too, are monsters� In Liddell’s Once upon a time in West Asphixia o hijos mirando al infierno (2003), the two teenagers can be seen as victims of the fake decency of today’s society, which they reject in the prayers they say at the beginning the play – almost a curse where they evoke Simón, the parricide, to intensify their desire for murder: “Make our blood flow faster, Simón� Infuriate the wolves in our tormented spirits and kill the lambs, Simón� […] Do not ever leave our side, oh Simón” (2004: 103)� The play, whose first part is written as a sort of documentary that brings together the testimonies of a series of people who knew the protagonists, faces us with the amorality of Natacha and Rebeca, two nice, sweet, and beautiful young women, who, nevertheless, still look at the world from very dark places where sexuality has no limits: “I destroy with my sex, with the fragility of my sex” (2004, 109) says Natacha, the tougher of the two� The girls’ “passion for insanity” unfolds evil as a mirror of who we are and how we act, portraying society as a dump, a huge madhouse inhabited by all of us sick people, because madness and violence are inherent in life� The beasts are us, insists Liddell; the characters are “a carbon copy of our failure” (2004: 116) but their thoughts “have no limits”: “we need to listen to those things that nobody listens to” (2004: 124)� Natacha puts it into words with Artaudian cruelty in one of her monologues, right before murdering her father and the fetus in her mother’s womb� Just as it happens in El matrimonio Palayrakis, she evokes the original sin: “Listen to me, listen to me; this is extremely important� We were born from the spine of a snake, we were impregnated by our own pain, by sick, passionate sperm; we were born from our own infected brain, from the great AQ: Please note that the cross-reference “Simón” (2004” has not been provided in the reference list� Please provide the same� Catharsis, Neo-catharsis, Post-Catharsis 31 vagina of our infected brain� We are the daughters of disease, because disease is necessary to reach lucidity” (2004: 128)� Hysterica Passio (2003) closes the trilogy while taking up many of the subjects approached in the two previous plays� In this work, they are thrown in the face of the spectator through Hipólito, the fruit of a sexual encounter between a “pale dentist” (Senderovich) and a “starving nurse” (Thora)� The boy, murdered by his indecent parents, acts as the master of a macabre ceremony in search of a motive for such violence� We are asked the same question once again: “Are we, sons and daughters, fated to feel guilty for the pain inflicted on us by our parents?” (2004: 155)� The answer, included in Hipólito’s long final monologue, is an ironic dart thrown against the audience, a closing argument that depicts evil as an inevitable component of human relationships: Come closer, / touch the monsters, they have killed without ideology,/ their crimes bring them closer to what is human, / excess is human, / love is human,/ but you, my dearest,/ you are so polite,/ you are so comfortable playing your part in society,/ you are so halfhearted;/ who knows what filthy crimes / you could perpetrate / […]� You’ll always be good� / You’ll always despise those who are not like you� / Now come closer, / pet the monsters� / Do not be afraid� / You are safe� / The Law will judge them, and they shall have no mercy� / […] touch the monsters, / this is real life (2004: 170)� All of Liddell’s works insistently explore the same ideas, with each new play offering a more radical approach than its predecessor� Fernanda del Monte (2020) has approached the tragic in Trilogía del infinito by delving into the foundational questions of the genre, as tragedy is a depository of the mystery of life in all its forms� In ¿Qué haré yo con esta espada?, the second (and the more consistent) part of the trilogy, autobiographic corporeality takes the form of a diary and is associated with the notions of pain and punishment� The body falls sick and is driven to insanity� It becomes monstrous, thus enabling the transgression of holy sacrifice: Here I am, by the side of the dog I love the most�/ Love is an answer/ to man’s strong desire for meaning�/ Dogs prove it�/ The time will come when I’ll have slit his throat, / if after fifteen seconds/ there still is a remain of precious life in it/ I will thrust my knife deep into its bowels/ cutting through its entrails with my fist;/ its blood will stain the tip of your shoes/ and its guts will tangle up around your ankles (2016: 139)�8 AQ: Please note that the cross-reference “Hipólito 2004” has not been provided in the reference list� Please provide the same� AQ: Please note that the cross-reference “Loureiro (2021)” has not been provided in the reference list� Please provide the same� 8 As Patricia Úbeda (2019) points out, this work (biographically related with the impact of the November 2015 Paris attacks and the murder of Renée Hartevelt by Issei 38 Anxo Abuín González catharsis, along with the symptom of a crisis (that is simultaneously a life crisis and an aesthetic crisis) is what lies at the core of his “fifth wall” plays (this fifth wall being a – black– canvas onto which the spectator constructs different meanings)� Let’s take a moment to reflect on the linguistic turn that so pleases Castellucci: “L’art n’a jamais résolu les problèmes: ce n’est ni une thérapie ni un medicament� L’art tragique est un poison, avalé, consciemment et volontairement, par la communauté et qui finit, sans apporter aucune consolation, par l’effroi devant la découverte de la fragilité et de la solitude de l’être abandonné” (2008: 17– 18)� That “abyssal blackness” that refers to a lack of hope but also to the circumstances caused by an state of emergency (I will not go further in discussing Agamben’s position), is fully revealed in the light of his reference to Walter Benjamin (1984), who suggested that the “dynamic and enthusiastic chants” of tragedy loosened the limits of the gaze as they provided a certain “pleasurable relief” or “an innocent joy” beyond morality with the power to encourage the emergence of an anarchic impulse towards a new way of looking at the world� I find this remark by Castellucci specially interesting, because he goes beyond the development of a theory of emotions, suggesting that catharsis belongs to the realm of form and is linked to the emancipation of the spectator’s moral perception (I deliberately chose the term “emancipation”; the reasons will be detailed in subsequent paragraphs)� This is present in his Tragedia endogonidia, a multilocation experiment on a different idea of Europe, but it is also noticeable in his adaptation of Divina Commedia (2008), whose Purgatorio confirms his interest in the tragic model and its connections with obscenity and catharsis: “Purgatorio means purification, catharsis, so it is like a Greek tragedy� Where there is something to purge, there is excrement, violence and treachery� We don’t really know who needs to be purified: maybe the spectators need to purge themselves from the things they’ve seen” (in Laera, 2010: 9)� The scene where the Son is raped (the sacrifice of the Son)14 can then be read as follows: AQ: Please note that the cross-reference “Laera, 2020” has not been provided in the reference list� Please provide the same� 14 “The familial dimension of violence is something that the Greeks have taught us� Matricide, infanticide, uxoricide and so on� When one talks about the origin of violence, one talks about the origin of society, of the nature of human relationships� For this reason, violence always means treason, it is always a kind of killing� The fact that in Purgatorio we staged child abuse can be seen as a reference to our society, but the idea that one would see in Purgatorio a reference to all these horrible chronicles about pedophilia actually disturbs me, it is a coincidence which I would happily do without” (in Laera, 2020: 11)� Catharsis, Neo-catharsis, Post-Catharsis 39 When the drama becomes unsustainable, one conceals everything� So at the peak of the drama, there is nothing to see� But it’s not a true concealment, it’s a double exposure, because this violence falls entirely within the personal sphere of the spectator� If you want to make a bloody and brutal scene, you have got to hide it because only this way can it become effective� This is not decorative violence, it’s not media violence, it’s an intimate, individual kind of violence� That’s why for some people it’s hard to sustain (in Laera, 2010: 11)�15 Castellucci sees tragedy as “le plus grandiose laboratoire de violence de l’homme occidental”, “un poison, avalé, consciemment et volontairement, par la communauté et qui finit, sans apporter aucune consolation, par l’effroi devant la découverte de la fragilité et de la solitude de l’être abandonné” (2008: 17)� In this sort of postcatharsis, Castellucci does not consider the possibility of creating a collective gaze that might give us some community relief� In one of the best books ever written about the spectator and their role, Marie Madeleine MervantRoux states that “le théâtre est un dispositif emotionnel” (1998, 66), but, contrary to what is expressed in many of the accounts provided by the author, I believe that in postdramatic theatre emotions are intended to unleash chaos so it becomes the structuring force of a new reality that is portrayed as chaotic and irremediable� What’s more, if one agrees with Catherine Bouko (2010), emotions are also expected to configure a new model of spectatorship with a spectator that calls into question the validity of the perceptive (and ideologic) categories that they apply to their experience� Some authors – in a way that might prove too enthusiastic– have suggested that these postdramatic experiences are connected with the emancipation proposed by Jacques Rancière� This assertion is based on a reading that considers every piece of drama text “comme non linéaire, discontinu, non hiérarchique dans son intermédialité (i� e� dans l’ensemble des arts et/ ou médiums qui le constituent), énigmatique, relatif” (Vuillemin, 2013: 24)� I believe we AQ: Please note that the cross-reference “Mervant-Roux 1998” has not been provided in the reference list� Please provide the same� 15 “There is nothing that interests me more than tragedy� It’s the strongest, deepest, most radical, violent, and striking form ever invented, both from the point of view of aesthetics and of human relations� It is the most beautiful and honest thing� This is especially true in Western culture, as tragedy doesn’t make sense in Eastern cultures� Its movements are simple, but they are carved inside our spirit� Tragedy has shaped Western aesthetics, and one cannot do without it� It is not simply a thing of the past, an archeological relic, it is totally projected into the future� It is inevitable” (in Laera, 2010: 15)� 40 Anxo Abuín González should go even further and take the path opened up by authors like Nic Fryer (2021) and Ryan Anthony Hatch (2021): we should approach catharsis, and maybe postcatharsis, too, as a disruption of the modes of perception; an intervention in the political distribution of the sensible and the expressible – “a lightening, an alleviation”; the construction of a radical space: “The problem, first of all, is to create some breathing room” (Rancière in Battista, 2017: 234)� A room from which to conceive a new sensible universe and envision the possibility of a new order in a fragmented, dissonant world: “For me, the fundamental question is maintaining spaces of play� To discover how to produce forms for the presentation and for the organization of spaces that thwart expectations� The main enemy of artistic creativity is consensus – that is, inscription within given roles, possibilities and competences” (in Battista, 2017: 238)� I believe that Simon Critchley, who wrote the latest great work on tragedy, has provided a masterful reading of the current state of the genre and a definition that perfectly matches the idea of an emancipated spectator: tragedy presents a world emerged from conflict and defined by ambiguity, duplicity, uncertainty, and the impossibility of cognoscibility; a world that cannot be made rationally intelligible through the application of principles and axioms (Critchley, 2019: 119)16� This is a transversal thesis in the book, which, offering a review of the works by authors like Pierre VidalNaquet and Jean Pierre Vernant (1990 [1972]) and Peter Szondi (1978) reads tragedy as a destabilizing, dialogic (or, using Critchley’s term, dialectic) device, intended to reorient the perception of the spectator and to unlock its senses, as “it is centrally concerned with the conditions for actually seeing and actually hearing” (2019: 39)� Tragedy is a mode of experience that takes us into the realm of moral ambiguity (2019: 87), in the realm of contradictions, as it postulates the existence of a “disoriented”, conflicted spectator – one that casts a problematic gaze on the world in an endless questioning of reality, even in the face of xenophobic and patriarchal reductionisms (Critchley devotes several memorable pages to the “anomaly” of slaves and women in Greek tragedy)� 16 Critchley’s studies on tragedy are at the core of his doctrine, which is grounded in the notions of failure and of (a very Levinasian) ethical subjectivity, while bringing back Rancière’s dissensus� Infinitely Demanding. Ethics of Commitment, Politics of Resistance (2007) is a good example of it� Catharsis, Neo-catharsis, Post-Catharsis 41 At the same time (I shall not dwell in the connections of this approach with the postmodern movement), tragedy is defined by its ambiguity, duplicity, uncertainty, or incognoscibility, so much so that the philosophy of tragedy allows us to become theoretical spectators “in the theatre of human complexity” – spectators of an ambiguous, contradictory reality that can never be reduced to what could be called a “monotheist point of view”� An analysis of the notion of catharsis is not necessary, either, as it seems to reveal itself in the realm of affects (“tragedy provides a safe environment in which emotions are raised and then relieved”, 2019: 314– 315)� In his book, Critchley offers a sketch of what could be called an ethical spectator, who necessarily would be an active spectator (in postdramatic tragedy)� This spectator would be defined as a subject that is destabilized (in Critchley’s words, “disoriented”)17 by images of injustice, poverty, and war; someone who is ready to activate their (practical) responsibility in the space allowed by a performance and in the form of a reflection or action triggered by their being confronted with a world dominated by consumerism, rampant capitalism, globalized violence… The position of such ethical spectator will always be ambivalent (Greham, 2009: 22), as it is in that kind of position that lies the possibility for experiencing a disruption or interruption of meaning that might lead to a concrete emotion of doubt or bewilderment or, at least, to a certain distancing from normalcy (that is, our usual understanding of the world)� It is likely that the spectators that leave the space of the 17 To know more about the connections between ethics and spectatorship, see the works by Helena Greham (2009) and Nicolas Ridout (2009)� Greham, who is philosophically influenced by Levinas and Bauman, comments on her own reaction to Castellucci’s shows (Genesi, 1999) to approach the notions of responsibility and commitment, seeing performance as a space for questioning and ethical challenges� In Ridout’s eyes, a work like Castellucci’s can be the source for a research project on the conditions of the real� It is also worth mentioning Emma Willis’ work on thanatotourism and its portrayal in theatre plays (2014)� In the field of cinema, we find earlier approaches to ethics and the role of the spectator, like Michel Aaron’s: “Ethics, is all about thinking through one’s relationship to morality rather than just adhering to it� It is about our personal powers of reasoning and choice when faced with, say, social custom, rather than our complete and immediate accord� One of the first milestones on our journey towards an ethics of spectatorship, then, is to consider the relationship between ethics and morality in the sphere of cinema, how some films nurture reflection, recognition and responsibility, and some prevent it” (Aaron, 2007: 109)� If you wish to delve into the connections among ethics, performance, and trauma, I highly recommend Cole’s works (2020: 265– 266) and Oliver’s (2010) masterful study on the notion of “responseability”� 42 Anxo Abuín González performance experiencing a certain degree of ambivalence will continue examining the work and reflecting on it for a while� Through the answers they offer to it, they will stay open to the ethical claim of the Other outside the theatre, too� Then, far from being mere “seekers of sensations” or “collectors of experiences” (Bauman, 1995: 213; 2000, 140, in his writings on postmodern morality and the notion of consumerism), they will become involved and open to other possibilities – they will start considering the consequences of the act of watching even beyond their own selfreflective and communityrelated engagement (Greham, 2009: 35)� In fact, the act of watching is performative, too, as it confirms the need to challenge our idea of reality (which is dismantled as a result)� At the same time, regardless of how destabilized or confused we might feel, a place of resistance emerges in the face of the dogmatic or preestablished positions that prevent us from redefining the conditions of our perception of the world� References AARON, Michele (2007): Spectatorship: The Power of Looking on� New York: Wallflower� ABLETT, Sarah J� (2020): Dramatic Disgust: Aesthetic Theory and Practice from Sophocles to Sarah Kane� Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag� ALBERT ALONSO, Alberto (2016): “Angélica Liddell: teatro, rito y sacrificio”, in LLA Journal, 11, 1� Available on https:// lljour nal�comm ons� gc�cuny�edu/ � ARNOTT, Peter D� (1987): “England/ North America”, in J� M� Walton (ed�), Living Greek Theatre: A Handbook of Classical Performance and Modern Production� Westwood: Greenwood Press, pp� 355– 382� ARTAUD, Antonin (1999): Van Gogh, el suicidado de la sociedad� Madrid: Fundamentos� ARTAUD, Antonin (2010): The Theatre and its Double: Essays� London: Alma Classics, 2010� AUSLANDER, Phillip (1984): “ ‘Holy Theatre’ and Catharsis”, Theatre Research International, 9, 1, pp� 16– 29� BARKER, Howard (1997): Arguments for a Theatre� Manchester: Manchester University Press� AQ: The following references are not listed in alphabetical order� Please check the reference order� BENJAMIN, Walter (1984), BIERL, Anton (2004), BOTTIN, Batrice (2012), BOUILLON, Anne (2016), BOUKO, Catherine (2010), BRECHT,Stefan (1968), CAPITTA, Gianfranco (2014), CARLSON, Marvin (2015), CASTELLUCCI, Romeo (2008), COLE, Emma (2020), CORNAGO, scar (2005), CORNAGO, scar (2012), CRITCHLEY, Simon (2007), CRITCHLEY, Simon (2014), CRITCHLEY, Simon (2019), DE PACO SERRANO, Diana (2003), DELEUZE, Gilles (1969), DUMOULI, Camille (1992), FISCHER-LICHTE, Erika (2005), FISCHER-LICHTE, Erika (2014), FOSTER, Hal (1996), FRYER, Nic (2021), GARCA, Rodrigo (2000), GARCA, Rodrigo (2016), GARNIER, Emmanuelle (2012), GARNIER, Emmanuelle (2015), GREHAM, Helena (2009), GROTOWSKI, Jerzy (1968), GROTOWSKI, Jerzy (1973), HARTWIG, Susanne (2008), HATCH, Ryan Anthony (2021), INNES, Christopher (1981), JIMNEZ JUSTICIA, Lorena (2018), KANE, Sarah (2001), LAERA, Margherita (2010), LAERA, Margherita (2013), LEHMANN, HansThies (2001), LEHMANN, Hans-Thies (2016), LIDDELL, Anglica (2004), LIDDELL, Anglica (2005), LIDDELL, Anglica (2014), LIDDELL, Anglica (2016), LIDDELL, Anglica (2018), LOUREIRO LVAREZ (2019), MERVANT-ROUX, Marie-Madeleine (1984), OBLED, Laura (2012), OLIVER, Sophie Anne (2010), PALAU, Paz (2016), RABEY, David Ian (2009), RANCIRE, Jacques (2010), RIDOUT, Nicolas (2009), SNCHEZ ACEVEDO, Ana (2014), SZCZEKLIK, Andrzej (2010), TATARKIEWICZ, Wladislaw (1970), TRUEBA MIRA, Virginia (2020), BEDA SNCHEZ, Patricia (2019) AQ: Please note that the reference “ARNOTT 1987” has not been cross-referred in the text� Please provide the same� Catharsis, Neo-catharsis, Post-Catharsis 43 BATAILLE, Georges (1962): Death and Sensuality: A Study of Eroticism and the Taboo� New York: Walker and Company� BATTISTA, Emiliano (2017): Dissenting Words: Interviews with Jacques Rancière� New York: Bloomsbury� BAUDRILLARD, Jean (2001): Telemorphosis� Minneapolis: Univocal� BAUMAN, Zygmunt (1995): Life in Fragments: Essays in Postmodern Morality� Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell� BAUMAN, Zygmunt (2000): Liquid Modernity� London: Polity, 2000� BENJAMIN, Walter (1984): Origem do drama barroco alemao� Sao Paulo: Editora Brasiliense� BIERL, Anton (2004): L’Orestea di Eschilo sulla scena moderna. Concezioni teoriche e realizzazioni sceniche� Rome: Bulzoni� BOTTIN, Béatrice (2012): “Le théâtre de la douleur d’Angélica Liddell”, in Bulletin hispanique, 114, 2, pp� 775– 798� BOUILLON, Anne (2016): Gilles Deleuze et Antonin Artaud. L’imposibilité de penser� Paris: L’ Harmattan� BOUKO, Catherine (2010): Théâtre et réception. Le spectateur postdramatique� Brussels: Peter Lang� BRECHT, Stefan (1968): “Dionsysus in 69”, in TDR, 43, pp� 156– 168� CAPITTA, Gianfranco (2014): “Cuando la catarsis ya no es posible”, in Primer Acto, 346, pp� 138– 140� CARLSON, Marvin (2015): “Postdramatic Theatre and Postdramatic Performance”, in Revista Brasileira de Estudos de Presença, 5, 3, pp� 577– 595� CASTELLUCCI, Romeo (2008): “Système, fonctions et opérations pour une tragédie d’or”, in Enrico Pitozzi and Annalisa Sacchi (eds�), Itinera. Trajectoires de la forme. Tragedia Endogonidia, Paris: Actes Sud, pp� 13– 21� COLE, Emma (2020): Postdramatic Tragedies� London: Oxford University Press� CORNAGO, Óscar (2005): Políticas de la palabra� Madrid: Fundamentos� CORNAGO, Óscar (2012): “Reflexiones sobre violencia y sociedad� A partir de San Jerónimo, de Angélica Liddell”, in Afuera. Estudios de crítica cultural, 11� In http:// www�revist aafu era�com/ artic ulo�php?id= 261&nro= 12 CRITCHLEY, Simon (2007): Infinitely Demanding. Ethics of Commitment, Politics of Resistance� London: Versus� CRITCHLEY, Simon (2014): Tragedia y modernidad� Barcelona: Trotta� AQ: Please note that the reference “CORNAGO 2012” has not been cross-referred in the text� Please provide the same� AQ: Please note that the reference “CRITCHLEY 2007” has not been crossreferred in the text� Please provide the same� AQ: Please note that the reference “CRITCHLEY 2014” has not been crossreferred in the text� Please provide the same� 44 Anxo Abuín González CRITCHLEY, Simon (2019): Tragedy, the Greeks and Us� New York: Pantheon Books, 2019� DE PACO SERRANO, Diana (2003): La tragedia de Agamenón en el teatro español del siglo XX� PhD, Universidad de Murcia� DELEUZE, Gilles (1969): Logique du sens� Paris: Minuit� DEL MONTE MARTÍNEZ, Fernanda (2021): “Angélica Liddell: autonomía de la palabra y pensamiento trágico contemporáneo”, in Investigación teatral. 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