The Actor-Document: traits of a poetics that challenges the limits between presence and representation

Abstract

During the 1960s and 1970s, Argentine theater experienced an almost simultaneous interest in the documentary and the political, as well as a experimental hybridization of forms. Later developments led to the autobiographical theater of the 1980s and 1990s and to the biodrama of the 2000s. Mi vida después [My life after] by Lola Arias is a renowned play derived from these traditions. By analyzing the model of acting of this work and study the figure of the actor-document and its contribution to contemporary theater. The actor in this model brings into crisis notions of illusion and mimesis and challenges the limits between fiction and reality by constantly oscillating amidst presence and representation.

Keywords

• actor-document
• presence
• representation
• documentary theater
• performance