Catalan Avant-Garde Theater

Theater is the mirror of the nation. The clearest expression of its urges, of its battles, and, as Adorno would say, of its own contradictions. Catalunya is one of the most modern and European-like countries of the west. This desire for modernism is expressed in artists such as Salvador Dalí as well as the avant-garde daydreaming theater of La Fura dels Baus. In Catalunya, a small country, theater was the national defense during Franco's dictatorship and in the present times serves as a nationalist weapon to claim independence. In this course, we will explore the history of Catalunya and Europe through theater, by means of written literature and footage of performances which will make lectures more dynamic and attractive. Also, we will meet the personal dramas of women and their social and historical implications through the theory of gender. Theater is a recreational and collective way of understanding a culture, thus it will be proposed to the students the possibility of creating a short play written and performed by them. Methodologically, the course is multifaceted and intertextual. The analysis tools are comparatist, historical, political, linguistic, psychiatric, and philosophical; the approach is creative (writing and acting) and related to cultural studies and feminism. The aim is to demonstrate that Catalan drama is a splendid window to get to know the Catalan culture and is fully integrated into contemporary theater.