Isidora Aguirre y la renovación del teatro de tema histórico en Chile

Four historical plays with a clear Chilean referent stand out from Isidora Aguirre’s valuable theatre repertory: Lautaro (1982), Diálogos de fin de siglo (1989), Manuel Rodríguez (1999), and El adelantado don Diego de Almagro (2003). We will focus on the latter, which apparently has not yet premiered. Among the principal elements of its dramatic action analyzed here are: 1) the protagonism and antagonism of its historical characters; 2) text division; 3) structuring of time and space; 4) dialogues and narration; and 5) the fusion of artistic genres. At the end it is established that the last element has something in common with the other three plays. Among the conclusions arrived at, the analogies between past and present come to light namely in Lautaro and Diálogos de fin de siglo which take us back to the period under Pinochet’s dictatorship. In all of them, Aguirre avoids a realistic approach, intertwining with fluidity in her writing some of the relevant principles of western contemporary theatre put forth by the likes of A. Artaud, B. Brecht, and Peter Weiss.