City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 2-2015 Neoliberal Dystopias: Postmodern Aesthetics and a Modern Ethic in Four Pairs of Plays by Argentine and Irish Playwrights (1990-2003) Noelia Diaz Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/547 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] Neoliberal Dystopias: Postmodern Aesthetics and a Modern Ethic in Four Pairs of Plays by Argentine and Irish Playwrights (1990-2003) by Noelia Diaz A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Comparative Literature in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2015 © 2015 NOELIA DIAZ All Rights Reserved ii This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Comparative Literature in satisfaction of the Dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. ______Dr. Jean Graham-Jones__________________ Date Chair of Examining Committee ______Dr. Giancarlo Lombardi __________________ Date Executive Officer Dr. Clare Carroll Dr. Jerry Carlson Supervisory Committee THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii ABSTRACT Neoliberal Dystopias: Postmodern Aesthetics and a Modern Ethic in Four Pairs of Plays by Argentine and Irish Playwrights (1990-2003) by Noelia Diaz Advisor: Jean Graham-Jones This project is an exploration of eight plays, four from Argentina, four from Ireland, comprehending the period between 1990 and 2003. Both countries share a strong tradition of national theatre that, from its beginnings, was closely intertwined with the development of the nation state. Theatre functions in Argentina and Ireland as a medium through which representations of what it means to be Irish or Argentine have been explored, questioned, and contested. It is the aim of this project to examine how the apparently non-political and ahistorical theater of the playwrights I will examine is indeed a response to a contextualized sense of political, social, and economic uncertainty, fueled by globalization. The postmodern aesthetics of the plays go beyond the playful to question how community, identity, and meaning are articulated in a world where national frameworks are being replaced by transnational movements (both economic and cultural). The impact of neoliberal economic policies implemented on Argentina and Ireland in the 90s and the severe displacement and rise of inequality of large sections of the population in both countries is contested, critiqued, and examined in all the plays of my study. In both the Argentine and Irish cases, lingering repressive practices responsible for human rights violations coexisted with an economic neoliberal agenda that generated its own particular set of discriminations, abuses, and diminish citizenships. This project analyzes how the chosen plays establish links between present and former instances of repression, violence, and abuse—underscoring for audiences unaddressed haunting human rights concerns in late twentieth-century Argentina and Ireland. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my committee chair Professor Jean Graham- Jones for her support, guidance, encouragement, and faith in my project. I am so grateful for having had the opportunity to benefit from her unique insight, warm spirit, ceaselessly thoughtful questioning and vast knowledge of Latin American Theatre. I would also like to thank my committee members, Professor Clare Carroll and Professor Jerry Carlson, who offered invaluable advice and encouragement. In addition, my most sincere gratitude to the staff at the Child Development Center of CUNY, in particular Linda Perrotta and Dolores Buonasora, for providing priceless care to my daughters while I pursued my studies. I also want to extend my gratitude to Leah Anderst, for her mentoring throughout the years, and to the family and friends who provided me with wide-raging support at the different stages of this project. It takes a village. Finally, I am profoundly thankful for my husband, Thomas Walser, and my daughters, Lola and Nina, whose love and reassurance made completing this dissertation possible. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction……………………………………………………………………………….1 Chapter One Reclaiming the Liminal Space: Marina Carr’s By the Bog of Cats… (1998) and Lucía Laragione’s Cocinando con Elisa (1993)……………………………………..15 Chapter Two Resisting Neoliberalism and Patriarchy: On Raftery’s Hill (2000) by Marina Carr and La escuálida familia (2001) by Lola Arias…………………………………...……...61 Chapter Three Mocking Truths, Reclaiming Fictions: The Pillowman (2003) by Martin McDonagh and Martha Stutz (1997) by Javier Daulte…………………………………………….....109 Chapter Four Traumatized Bodies and Collapsed Masculinities: Socavón (1999) by Luis Cano and The Holy Ground (1990) by Dermot Bolger…………………………………………157 Conclusion…………...…………………………………………………………………. 196 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………. 205 vi Introduction This project commenced, almost twenty years ago, with my viewing of Martin McDonagh’s The Beauty Queen of Leenane (1996) at the Atlantic Theater in New York City. At that point, writing my dissertation was still several years away, but McDonagh’s work introduced me to Irish Theatre—and while The Beauty Queen of Leenane is not included in this study, that production was the seminal impulse for the work at hand. Argentine Theatre joined the panoply of this work both before McDonagh and after. I had the privilege of studying acting in Madrid with Zulema Katz, a renowned Argentine actress who exiled herself first to Paris, and then to Madrid, after her second husband, poet, and political militant Francisco Urondo was executed by the Junta Government. Zulema’s life story was my first introduction to the horrific violence perpetrated by the Junta regime. Her mastery and talent, both as a performer and a teacher, marked the beginning of my lasting passion for theatre. This project is an exploration of eight plays, four from Argentina, four from Ireland, encompassing the period between 1990 and 2003. Four texts are by playwrights self-identified as Irish: By the Bog of Cats… (1998) and On Raftery’s Hill (2000) by Marina Carr, The Pillowman (2003) by Martin McDonagh, and finally the Holy Ground (1990) by Dermot Bolger. Four texts are by Argentinean playwrights: Martha Stutz (1997) by Javier Daulte, La escuálida familia (2001) by Lola Arias, Cocinando con Elisa (1994) by Lucía Laragione, and Socavón (1999) by Luis Cano. My study limits itself to the theatre created in the Republic of Ireland, not in Northern Ireland, and while acknowledging that contact between both areas has taken place, all of the Irish writers of this study come from the Republic, not from Northern Ireland. Argentina and Ireland share a strong tradition of national theatre that, from its beginnings, was closely intertwined with the development of the nation state. Theatre functions in both Argentina 1 and Ireland as a medium through which representations of national identity—what it means to be Irish or Argentine—has been explored, questioned, and contested. It is not the aim of this investigation to provide an exhaustive history of either the theatrical landscape or the political circumstances in Ireland and Argentina when the plays were written. Such a study would be gargantuan and perhaps unproductive, by virtue of its size. Within the smaller scope of this project, it is easier to highlight the key similarities embedded in the two sets of plays I analyze. However, an understanding of the crucial local and national debates at the time the plays were written is indispensable to interpret their creation. In his seminal work on Irish theatre Theatre and Globalization: Irish Drama in the Celtic Tiger Era, Patrick Lonergan notes that Irish theatre’s international success, with plays like Dancing at Lughnasa (1990) by Brian Friel, reinforced for audiences abroad what an Irish play was, rather than leading to intercultural exchange (54). Lonergan is critical of how an emphasis on globalization theory runs the risk of a subsequent failure to investigate the particulars of how a play is made and received. Local knowledge, he asserts, must be part of the conversation (223). I concur with Lonergan’s stance, and the aim of this project is to facilitate intercultural exchange between seemingly unrelated plays that nevertheless ponder similar questions on either side of the Atlantic. By remaining attendant to local histories and to crucial social changes in Ireland and Argentina, this project seeks to engage in a truthful “intercultural exchange,” one which understands national particularities while underscoring how globalizing forces, and their neoliberal agenda, generate diminished citizenships across the world. I will argue that in spite of vague or absent historical signifiers (Martha Stutz being the exception here), all the plays are critical of the profound political and social changes unfolding in the 1990s in their respective countries. The period examined coincides with the implementation 2 in Argentina and Ireland of aggressive neoliberal economic and social policies that undermined, in both cases, their previous welfare states. Under the governments of Carlos Saul Menem (1989-