A Violent Spectacle: Terrorism in Contemporary Peninsular Drama by Tara Elizabeth Downs A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Spanish and Portuguese University of Toronto © Copyright by Tara Elizabeth Downs 2016 A Violent Spectacle: Terrorism in Contemporary Peninsular Drama Tara Elizabeth Downs Doctor of Philosophy Department of Spanish and Portuguese University of Toronto 2016 Abstract Terrorism and violence have long been a part of Spanish history and culture, although the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries brought a notable increase of these phenomena with the Spanish Civil War, Franco dictatorship, the Basque conflict, and the Madrid train bombings in 2004. Prior to the early 1990s – 2010s, however, there was not much evidence of this in the cultural sphere---especially on the stage, which has always served an important role in Spain. This dissertation examines the reasons behind the amplified experience of violence and terrorism in Spain in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries through a look at significant historical events leading up to and during these periods and notes the quotidian nature of violence in Spain at this time due to its repeated nature. This is amplified by a parallel examination of the history of theatre in Spain during the same time in order to demonstrate the effects of political upheaval on both the production (censorship placed on texts, etc.) and performance (availability of funds, actors, and spaces) of dramas. After establishing this historical connection between theatre and violence in Spain, I address the intersection of the two institutions as observed in the works of contemporary Spanish playwrights. I divide my analysis of these dramas into three thematic sections, all of which pertain to terrorism: the representations ii of control, ideology, and alterity. Through my treatment of these plays, I argue that frequent interaction with violence and terrorism affects the individual and the cultural identity of those forced to experience it. Additionally, I propose that the playwrights in my study employ the theatrical genre as a form of violence itself in which to combat current societal norms and responses to violence, urging the public to “think outside the box” and find a new way to deal with the issues at hand. In other words, I suggest that terrorism, like other phenomena present in society, is a social construct; it is relative, and most importantly, it is not a fixed entity. Spanish identity does not have to “go hand in hand” with violence. It can change. iii Table of Contents Introduction 1 Chapter One: Retracing Footsteps: The History of Terrorism and Theatre in Spain 23 The Formation of Habit: The Beginning of Terrorism as an Everyday Experience 23 Ripples in the Ocean: Anarchism and the Beginning of Civil Unrest 24 Brother vs. Big Brother: The Emergence of War and Dictatorship 27 A Brief Look at the Basque Conflict 39 The Awakening of International Terrorism in Spain 51 The Transformation of Dramatic Arts through Violence 54 Violence and the Everyday 61 Chapter Two: Branching Out: The Roots of Violence on the Contemporary Spanish Stage 68 Shining Light on the Problem: Luces de bohemia 74 Rough-Housing: Theatre during the Spanish Civil War 84 The Continued Saga: The Presence of War in Post-Civil War Theatre 96 Chapter Three: Casting Spells: The Illusion of Control 109 Manipulating Reality: Control and Substance Abuse in Drama 112 Welcome Home: Social and Cultural Impacts of Patriarchy 117 Multi-tasking: Individual Actors, Multiple Roles 125 Playing Rough: The Implications of the Representations of Terrorism and Control 139 Chapter Four: Getting Schooled: Terrorism and the Use of Ideology 142 Building Blocks: Ideological State Apparatuses and Identity 145 Making Believe: The Implications of the Representations of Terrorism and Ideology 175 Chapter Five: Mirror, Mirror: Reflections on Alterity 179 One of These Things is Not like the Other: Difference vs. Sameness in Contemporary Spain 182 Back to the Future: Time, Space, and Otherness 199 Playing House: The Implications of the Representations of Terrorism and Alterity 210 Conclusion 215 Works Cited 223 iv A Violent Spectacle: Terrorism in Contemporary Peninsular Drama INTRODUCTION Despite the increased presence of terrorism in the media after the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 and later the Madrid train bombings on March 11, 2004, terrorism is not unique to the twenty-first century. Rather, counter-terrorism laws and public safety measures began to appear in Western countries such as the US, UK, and Spain in the 1960s (Jackson 52). The creation of laws coincides with the beginning of youth mobilization movements worldwide, and the founding of terrorist organizations such as ETA (1959) and the IRA (1969). Moreover, the media started framing political violence as “terrorism” as early as the 1970s (Zulaika and Douglass 45). This is evidenced in a study of North American and European newspaper indexes by Ronald Crelinsten, to which Zulaika and Douglass refer in their Terror and Taboo. According to Zulaika and Douglass, Crelinsten notes that prior to 1970 only the Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature included “terrorism” as a heading. The New York Times Index incorporated it for the first time in 1970 and had four citations. It was not until 1972 that the heading began to appear with more frequency in more indexes. That year, for example, the New York Times Index had 64 citations (46). As a result of the increasing popularity of the term, the creation of cultural productions such as novels, films, television programs, and theatrical works with terrorism as a subject increased in many Western countries (46). During the 1970s, Spain did not experience a similar surge in cultural production about the theme of terrorism. This difference is due to the censorship inflicted on the Spanish public by 1 2 the Franco regime. Censorship affected daily life in Spain in a variety of ways, including the outlawing of the use of regional languages and a re-structuring of the educational system. In addition, post-war censorship also affected the reception of information via artistic and media outlets, such as the news, cinema and theatre.1 For example, newspapers and news broadcasts were prohibited from reporting on certain topics of violence, including crimes. Cinematic and theatrical pieces were also banned from discussing various themes, including violence and anything that promoted hatred between different groups. Officials were tasked with ensuring that writers and actors obeyed the rules. For the theatre world, this meant that inspectors would be sent to watch rehearsals and first performances of plays—given that performances change from time to time. The taboo upon the discussion of terrorism in Spanish cultural discourse, such as the media and cultural productions, began to lessen during the end of Spain’s transition to democracy which occurred between 1975-1982. This is evident in the increase in published cultural productions, such as literary and theatrical works, which explicitly deal with the theme of terrorism during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Nevertheless, I argue that despite the eventual decrease in censorship, the aforementioned repression during the post-war years and the rising Basque conflict, caused terrorism to become an everyday experience in Spain. Even in the absence of terrorist attacks, terrorism becomes everyday because terrorist actions themselves are only part of the problem. The fear and the anticipation of the next violent 1 Daniele Conversi’s The Basques, the Catalans and Spain, César Oliva’s El teatro desde 1936, Julio Martínez Velasco’s El teatro de la libertad: sofocado en el franquismo and Eduardo Ruíz Bautista’s Tiempo de censura: la represión editorial durante el franquismo provide great insight into the issues of censorship during the Franco dictatorship. 3 act are also contributing factors to the ordinariness of violence in Spain.2 The playwrights included in this project allude to this issue throughout their plays. For example, in Belbel’s Blood a woman—the wife of a prominent political figure—is kidnapped by an unnamed terrorist organization. The other characters, including two police officers, as well as the victim’s husband and his mistress, are aware of her kidnapping. They are also aware of the organization’s process of amputating up to four different body parts and distributing them across town, while awaiting the payment of the ransom; however, they do not know when or where the woman’s body parts will appear and this creates a sense of panic. Furthermore, in Barrena’s Eusk the several groups of characters are aware of being in close proximity to terrorists as they live in the Basque Country, a conflicted region. None of the groups of characters are sure as to which of their neighbours (if any) are terrorists. This is clear, for example, in the case of Ana and Felix who are newcomers to the Basque Country and begin to receive threats and question one another. It is also evident in the case of one father who has to be wary of what he says in front of his daughter for fear that she may denounce him. These are two theatrical instances that I analyze in depth 2 This is evident through the examination of various stories in the press. For example, sites for news companies such as BBC, ElPeriódico.com, and 20minutos.es have articles listing the chronology of terrorist attacks (primarily perpetrated by ETA) in Spain. Others discuss the influence of fear and anticipation of attacks in Spain and Europe in general. There has been a particular increase in such articles in the wake of the ISIS attacks in Paris on November 13, 2015. Some examples of these articles include Raquel Villaécija’s “¿Puedes no ir a trabajar por miedo a un atentado? En Francia sí, en España no,” J.M.