Liminalidad, comunidad y carnaval en Adiós, Ayacucho de Yuyachkani

This article examines Adiós, Ayacucho, an iconic one-actor play by theatre collective Grupo Cultural Yuyachkani, by focusing on the theatrical figure of Qolla, which is proposed here as the emblem of the relationship between liminality and carnival. Adiós, Ayacucho is the story of Alfonso Canepa, an Andean peasant leader who was tortured, partially dismembered, and disappeared by the Peruvian police under suspicion of terrorism in the early 1980s. Qolla, a well-known character from one of the most important fiestas in the Peruvian Andes, lends his body to Canepa so that he can re-member and recount his story on stage. Through a discussion of Jacques Rancière's ideas on spectatorship and dissensus, Ileana Diéguez's approach to communitas and liminality, and Bakhtin's analysis of laughter and carnival, the essay examines the play in the context of Yuyachkani's effort to (re)build communities of memory alongside the work of the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The role of Qolla in the Andean fiesta, discussed in detail, reveals a liminal and carnivalesque nature that frames the actor's performance on the political and theatrical stages.