Myth and Memory in Spanish Exile Theatre

This article explores the tensions present in the recovery and reception of Spanish Republican exile theatre through close consideration of the work of an emblematic author, José Bergamín. The gap between categorical and embodied knowledge of exile theatre texts and phenomena is shown to underpin a tendency to mythologize the process of remembering an absent part of Spanish theatrical tradition. By addressing the problems encountered in representing and staging one particular play, Medea la encantadora, these tensions are both exemplified and elucidated through engagement with the dialectical relationship between myth and memory presented in the dramatic text itself. Thus, it is proposed that enactive engagement with the play provides an unsettling insight into the problematic representational status of exile theatre.