Catharsis on Peruvian theater by Rubén Quiroz Ávila

Peruvian theater always requires rethinking. If you do not reflect on the stage events, complacency is highly likely to occur. Any sense of comfort in art is dangerous. It forges a feeling of softness and can lead to the intellectual and discursive failure of any stage production. An overly condescending community will stop your artistic evolution. That is why the work of the theater critic is fundamental, since he thinks of the stage event as a cultural matter composed of social meanings and, for that reason, it must be read as an opportunity to discern contemporary events through the staging.

At the same time, a healthy distance is required to maintain critical review. We must avoid, as much as possible, a compromising approach in which emotions are the main factor for the analysis. Of course, it is inevitable that this will happen, however, the rational sieve and the theoretical toolbox must be sufficiently solid, as well as relevant, to add value to the theater, from a respectful and at the same time incisive criticism, with approaches to a certain objectivity. . We accept that an alleged objectiveness is non-existent. That is why a critique has to reveal the semantic mechanisms with which this theatrical event works. You have to unravel the event and understand it.

To this, we must incorporate that many times the theater productions discussed tend to be, centrally, from Lima and, within them, those with the greatest media or friendly negotiation power. It is a world of relationships that establish combinations of mutual interest and shared benefits. We must minimize the attraction for those presentations in which the combination of a porous fame and an effective marquetry device can confuse or seduce the critic. Rather, it is the productions that have abundant resources to make their work a valuable exercise in scenic proposal that must be demanded even more. However, that does not mean compassionate indulgence of those that are rather efforts of social voluntarism and overflowing enthusiasm, but limited in terms of proposals that add to the development of our performing arts.

So, the challenge of this column is to assume the wonderful responsibility of rethinking Peruvian theater, as much as possible, and valuing it in its various forms, places and presentations, in which that cathartic joy is also a civic, ethical and aesthetic act.

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