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EGON WOLFF, CHILEAN PLAYWRIGHT

BY

Elena Mufioz Bravo

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment ot the requirements
for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

Department of Theatre

1994

ABSTRACT

EGON WOLFF, CHILEAN PLAYWRIGl-IT

BY

Elena Munoz

Egon Wolff is one of the most significant contemporary Latin American
playwrights. Wolff's unique style departs from conventional Chilean theatre and
combines psychological themes and social criticism.

After the introduction, Chapter I provides an overview of Wolff's personal
life and professional career. Chapter II centers upon his theatrical theories.
Chapter III contains the detailed analysis of four major plays including flew
Elem Tell Me Aeeet gere, The Inveeers and Kingergerten. A conclusion
iollows. The thesis utilized the plays and interviews with the playwright as

primary sources.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 1
CHAPTERI _
EGON WOLFF'S LIFE AND CAREER ........................................................... 3
The Secret Playwright .......................................................................... 3
The Chilean Playwright. ...................................................................... 4
The Succestul Playwright .................................................................... 7
CHAPTER II
THEATRICAL THEORIES ................................................................................ 17
The Twentieth Century and the New Theatre .................................. 17
Vertical and Horizontal Theatre ......................................................... 21
The Dramatic Space: Action, Conflict and Development. ............. 22
The Dramatic Structure and Characters ........................................... 24
The Story, the Time, and some Examples ....................................... 25
Suspense ............................................................................................... 26
Duality and Progression. ..................................................................... 27
Meaning of Vertical Theatre ................................................................ 28
CHAPTER III
ANALYSIS OF FOUR PLAYS ......................................................................... 30
Tell Me About Laura ............................................................................. 30
The Invaders .......................................................................................... 38
Kindergarten .......................................................................................... 44
Paper Flowers ....................................................................................... 51
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................. 56
BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................ 58

INTRODUCTION

Last December, I wrote to Egon Wolff telling him that I would write my
thesis about his life, theories, and plays. Three weeks later, I received a letter
from Wolff telling me that he couldn't understand why there are still people
interested in his "madness". Last January, I began my trip along Wolff's roads
and met some of his characters, who left in my soul a kind of tender
unhappiness.

This thesis is a description and study of Wolff's background and plays.
Chapter I contains an overview of his life and professional career. The
beginnings of Wolff as a playwright, and his success in Chilean theatre are
covered in this survey. Chapter I also provides some of Wolff's responses in
different interviews, and a brief summary of each of Wolff's plays.

Chapter II centers Upon Wolff's theatrical theories about the dramatic
structure of antirealistic theatre. An overview of the different dramatic
tendencies and playwrights of the 20th century introduces this chapter. Wolff's
distinction between "vertical and horizontal theatre" is compared with Martin
Esslin's description of the theatre of the absurd.

Chapter III contains the analysis of four major plays including 3am
Me, Tell Me Aeeut Laure, The Invedere and Kindergerten. The four plays
are very different in theme, form, and style. The analysis of these plays contains
a detailed summary of the plot, a description and psychological interpretation of

the characters. and a study of the dramatic structure.

The thesis concludes by discussing the importance of American
audiences knowing the plays of Chilean dramatist Egon Wolff.

Last May, I finished traveling Wolff's road, and it was a wonderful journey.

CHAPTER I

EGON WOLFF'S LIFE AND CAREER

The Secret Playwright

For more than three decades, Egon Wolff' 5 unique style, unusual themes
and vivid language broke free of the conventions of Chilean theatre. Along the
way, he became one of Latin America's most important playwrights. Wolff, son
of German parents, was born in 1926 in Santiago's German community. He
grew up between the two world wars.

Two aspects of his life seem to have had an important influence:
numerous tuberculosis attacks during his adolescence, Wolff's illnesses gave
him time, during his youth, to read authors such as Thomas Mann, Hermann
Hesse, Franz Kafka, James Joyce, Thomas Wolff, William Faulkner and others.
And the anti-Nazism of his father, which contributed to the family's economic
problems after the war. These problems turned Wolff to studying chemical

engineering instead of only developing his dramatic abilities.

"I have the ability to write theatre. I master the dialogue and know how to
concentrate the attention. I wrote theatre in 1957 for the first time; the play was
Feer's Discieles, which was performed in 1958.

However, l remember that i had had a literary inclination since I was nine
years old. For my parents, literature was a perversion and they never let me
follow my vocation. Therefore, I wrote secretly and sometimes I used a
pseudonym. At the Instituto Nacional (National Institute, a very well known
men's high school.), I founded Atenea, a literary magazine at the Universidad
Catélica, and wrote essays and stories for it.

It was my wife who helped me to fulfill my vocation. Nevertheless, I still
work as a chemical engineer, which is my professional degree and which has

never satisfied me."1

 

 

1E.Wol1f, personal interview, 5 May 1994

4

Wolff's present prosperity is the product of many years of hard work. In
the beginning, Wolff was a make-up salesman; then he sold chemical products,
and later he became co-owner of a paint factory.

Only since 1979 has he concentrated on writing, because he got a job as
a professor at the Theatre Department of the Universidad Catélica de Chile
(Catholic University of Chile). There, Wolff taught courses in Dramatic
Perception, Dramatic Theory, Dramatic Technique, and Dramatic Construction.

In 1992, Wolff retired and dedicated his life to writing. His last play,
_S_c_e;e, will be performed this year at the Teatro de la Universidad Catélica de
Chile. He is also writing television programs and translating some of Michael
Weller's plays from English to Spanish.

Wolff is currently married and has two sons. He lives near Santiago
(Chile's capital) in a beautiful country house. He also has another house by the

Chilean sea.

"I need silence, and that is all" he said in an interview. "No window, no
landscape in front of me. The motivation is to believe in what I' m writing. As
soon as I lose that, I lose all inspiration and the project flops. My most fertile

writing time is any hour during the morning. In the afternoon I doze."2

The Chilean Playwright

Wolff, in his career of more than thirty years, has experimented with
various styles in order to achieve an authentic Chilean expression. However,
all of his plays transcend a national theme by describing the universal human
condition. Therefore they have been translated into many languages and have
been produced in several countries, including USA, Mexico, Spain, Sweden,

England, France, Greece, Cuba, Hungary and others. Wolff has a unique ability

 

2 E.Wolff, personal interview.

5

of choosing particular situations and making them accessible to all kinds of

audiences.

”Sometimes I follow an idea which haunts me for days and months, trying
to find its theatrical expression, as these days, for instance, the fallacy that
democracy works in underdeveloped, and therefore vulnerable human
societies. Or I find a simple character who embodies the theatrical aura, or an
emotion such as perplexity or stupor or moral commitment.

When it is an idea which impels me to write a play, the next step is to find
the appropiate characters to embody it. When it is an emotion, I try to focus on
my submerged feelings about it, and that process results regularly in a

metaphor, with all its expressiveness.” 3

The Chilean sociologist Maria de la Luz Hurtado has described his work:

"Egon Wolff is a playwright of the Sixties who has had the ability to
present the social processes and to describe them by symbols. He has gotten

insights of society before the sociologists and historians."4

Wolff has mostly used the realistic style; however, the author has also
experimented with some avant-garde forms. For that reason, his style is usually
classified as "magic realism".5

His literary work describes an inner vision of Chilean society. In this
vision, the author exposes a forsaken and marginal people, and the dichotomy
between different social classes with their relative advantages and

disadvantages.

"The strongest influence of all comes from the observation of life, which is
for me an open book. As is also the theatre. So, I could say that I have read
from the Greeks to the most modern American playwrights. But my strongest
influence stems from knowing the mechanic who lives in front of my house, or

his wife who washes his clothes, or the gardener who tends my garden."6

 

3E. Wolff, personal interview.

4M. Hurtado, Selet' 0 man 1 PLeyecto Higcrico en le Dramaturgia Chilena Ageal (Santiago: Céneca, 1983)
1 2.

5Hurtado, 44.

6Wolff, personal interview.

6

In his early work, Wolff was mostly concerned about describing social

problems:

"There was an evident intention of social critique in my first plays. This
aspect originated the conflict and influenced the story; and sometimes it was
incoherent with my characters. Today, I let my characters originate their own

conflict and resolve it."7

For that reason, other kinds of themes, more psychological, are
continuously presented by the playwright in his last plays. These themes
include the obsessive and dominant mother, the use and abuse of power, the
frustrated and frustrating sexuality, and the anguish produced by forlornness.

In all of these subjects, the Chilean dramatist defends the importance
and necessity of true love, in which a human being is appreciated by his defects
and values and not by his professional or material success. For Wolff, a true-
Iove relationship represents a place where people can grow together and

individually.

 

7Rafael Otano, n Wolff: n ra tu n l 'mi nto I ui ' io. (Santiago: Editorial
Nascimento, 1978) 37.

7

The Sueceeful Playwright

Egon Wolff began writing in 1957 at the age of 32. His first plays were
Fear's Dieeielee and les' Meneion. The same year, those plays won the two
awards of the Concurso de Obras Teatrales de la Universidad de Chile.
(Theatrical Plays Awards of the University of Chile). In 1958, Wolff won the
Premio Municipal de Santiago (Municipal Award of Santiago), for his play
Feer'e Dieeieles. During this same year, the play was first performed in
Santiago at the Teatro Experimental de la Universidad de Chile .

W is a realistic psychological drama, in which a mother has
a dominant role in her three sons' lives. Because of the mother's permanent
intervention, neither the father nor the sons can choose their own lifestyles. The
mother was very poor in her childhood, therefore she is very obsessive with
money. She decides to buy a factory in order to assure the family's future, but
instead of being a solution, the factory gives them serious financial problems.
Melee shows Wolff's attraction for exploring family problems and
human deformities. When the individual feels himself imprisoned or
traumatized, he begins to show the ugly side of his human nature. In this case,
makes the family members live as victims of an unhealthy emotional
environment. They live as fears disciples.

Also in 1958, mle' Menejen was first performed in Chile, by the
Sociedad Chilena de Autores Teatrales at the Talia Theatre. The two-act play,
written in realistic form, tells the story of an overprctective mother who lives in
the country with her two adolescent sons. Marta, the mother, protects her sons
excessively and suffocates them in an isolated and artificial home. In this
space, the sons do not have any contact with the external world. The family

lives with memories and games, and they make money from selling cultivated

8

flowers. The mother's obsessive nature is expressed from the beginning but the
origin of her obsession is not explained. The triangular relationships within the
family -- the mother's domination, the oldest son's agony, the youngest son's
confusion -- are developed slowly and deliberately. The mysterious signs
related to the missing father increase the tension and the conflict development.
The play presents the problems of a family which tries to survive alienated from
normal society but achieves disastrous consequences. The melodramatic and
quick ending of the play shows the playwright's lack of dramatic experience.
However, @Ie' Mansion as a second play marks a route for the author's later
development and his permanent interest in protecting his characters. we
Meneien is a realistic drama similar to Fear'e Digieles: both plays have
obsessive and destructive mothers.

In 1959, Egon Wolff wrote flaggeeeles, which won the literary award of
the University of Chile again. Then, in 1960, the play was first performed in
Santiago at the ITUCH (Instituto de Teatro de la Universidad de Chile). In this
realistic drama, the script tells the story of an unhappy couple married six years.
Both are materialistic and competitive people: the wife grew up in a rich family
where she learned that money could solve any problem and became very cold
and calculating; and the husband has a factory where he exploits his workers
for his own benefit. Even though the conflict develops because of the
permanent economic crisis of this family, the commercial problems also
disclose the couple's sexual troubles. The play is a critique of contemporary
society which places extreme importance on money, sacrificing the individual's
integrity. At the end of the story, the married couple tries to recover their own
values.

In 1960, Wolff got a Fulbright scholarship to the USA. to take a course in
playwriting at Yale University. There, Wolff wrote the play A Touch ef Blue,

9

which was first performed the same year in New Haven, by The Yale University
Theatre . In 1962, A Touch of Blue was performed in Chile at the Teatro de la
Universidad de Concepcion. In 1983, the play was shown in Caracas,
Venezuela. This realistic drama unfolds in the yard of a very run-down house
where a group of eight poor people live together. The interaction shows how
these people depend on and utilize each other. Loneliness and fear dominate
the characters' minds because all of them had previous desperate situations.
One of the characters says: "Solitude is not exclusive to anybody; we are all in it
together". 8 Because in this particular group there are some couples who
achieve better insights of their condition, the chaos resolves itself in a certain
justice and moral balance. At the end of the play, the characters understand
they cannot use other people to fill their own solitudes.8

In 1963, Wolff wrote The Invadere. This play received major critical
attention and made the author an internationally known figure. American

theatre professor Frank Dauster says that:

" Simultaneously this fantasy of the terror of the haves when the poor
silently but tenaciously invade and conquer the wealthy neighborhoods was to
give him a reputation as a social playwright; his earlier work had tended
strongly toward psychological examination of social attitudes, particularly those

of the middle classes. ”9

The lnvflere was first performed in Chile in 1963 at the ITUCH and for
about 30 years as follows. 1965-Lima, Peru. 1966-Mexico City, Mexico;
Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala; and La Havana, Cuba. 1968-Caracas,
Venezuela. 1970-New York. 1971-Buenos Aires, Argentina; Madrid, Spain;
and Barranquillas, Colombia. 1972-Tegucigalpa, Honduras. 1974-Guatemala
City, Guatemala. 1975-Barcelona, Spain. 1977-Ohio, U.S.A.; Seville, Spain;

 

8E. Wolff,TgtLg Commeto. (Colorado: Society of Spanish and Spanish-American Studies, 1990) 4.
9 Frank Dauster, The Thgtre of Egen Wolff: After The Invaders. (Austin: U. Texas P, 1976) 1.

10

Lisbon, Portugal; and Caracas, Venezuela. 1978-Madrid, Spain; Monterrey,
Mexico. 1979-Linkeping, Sweden. 1986-Hannover, West Germany. 1988-
Miami, U.S.A.; Dallas, U.S.A. 1992-Odense, Denmark.

In The Invedere, Wolff evolved toward a dramatic style in which apparent
realism serves to underline the unreal element. With only eight characters, four
on each side, the play presents two distinct segments of society: the rich and the
poor. The play depends on a dream which disguises the reality, and when the
dream begins or ends is not clear. A more complete description of the play is
given in Chapter III of this thesis.

In 1964, Wolff was invited to Belgrade, Yugoslavia, to participate in an
international playwrights' convention. This same year, the author attended the
Congreso de Teatro Latinoamericano (Latin American Theatre Congress), in La
Havana, Cuba.

In 1968, Egon Wolff wrote Cain's Sign. In 1969, the play was first
performed in Chile at the Teatro Mozart, obtaining the award of the Chilean
Theatrical Critics. In 1975, the play was shown in Barcelona, Spain. In 1978,
Cein'e Sign was presented in New York.

In this realistic four-character drama, the conflict is about problems of
conscience. A rich couple invades the house of a poor man who lives happily
with his lover. The balance of this man's pleasant life is broken when the old
friends come to rescue him from his poverty. The relationship between the four
characters becomes complicated after the rich couple accuses the poor friend of
having had some homosexual activity in the past. At the end of the play the

main character recognizes his past, saying :

11

"There are men who carry on their forehead Cain's sign. Others fear and
interpret this sign as an evil mark. But the truth is that this is a sign of a clear

and analytical mind, of a restless spirit, of men without fear."10

In 1970, Wolff wrote Eeper Flowers. which is considered by critics as his
masterpiece. The same year, the play won the Casa de Ias Americas Theatre
Award in Cuba. In 1972, Paxr Flewers won the Best International Play Award
given by the Critics Association of Argentina and was first performed in Chile at
the Teatro Mozart. The play has been performed in many languages around
the world: In 1972-Buenos Aires, Argentina. 1973-Montevideo, Uruguay; and
Mexico City, Mexico. 1974-London, England. 1975- Sofia, Bulgary; and
Prague, Czech Republic. In 1976-Stockholm, Sweden; and Athens, Greece.
1977—Copenhagen, Denmark; Amberes, Belgium; and Oslo, Norway. 1978-
Paris, France; Managua, Nicaragua; Guatemala City, Guatemala; and Caracas,
Venezuela. 1980-Washington.; Vancouver, Canada; Goteborg, Sweden; and
Budapest, Hungary. 1981-Alberta, Canada. 1982-Luneburg, West Germany;
and Veracruz, Mexico. 1983-Santiago, Chile. 1984- Tasalonica, Greece; New
Jersey, USA. 1986-Califomia, U.S.A. 1987-Paris, France. 1989-Toronto,
Canada; Miami, U.S.A. 1990—Caracas, Venezuela; Budapest, Hungary; Tokio,
Osaka and Kyoto, Japan. 1993-Richmond, England.

Peeer Flowers is an absurd drama divided into six scenes, and it has
only two characters: Eva and The Hake. It is about an ordinary woman who
invites a man who helped her with some packages to stay a moment in her
house and have a cup of tea.

Eva is a solitary widow and painter and The Hake is an enigmatic beggar
who has extraordinary talents. Slowly this man begins to invade Eva's space,
things, and finally herself. He establishes himself in Eva's apartment as if he

had a premeditated plan. From the beginning, the conflict between The Hake

 

1"Wow. 12mm 28.

12

and Eva's little bird reflects the inevitable violence which will characterize the
relationship between the two characters. The Hake lies, confounds, deceives;
and when he kills the bird, he foreshadows Eva's destruction. The language of
the script is very attractive because it expresses these two different characters'
realities. Therefore, the dialogue moves from the softest tenderness to the
harshest rudeness. A more complete study of this play is offered in Chapter III .

Despite the international success of Wolff's Paper Flowers, the play was
not understood in Chile. The Chilean audience of the 19705 found the play
inaccessible and intellectual. Not until later, in 1983 after the second
production of the play, people really understood and liked Peeer Flowere.

After writing Peeer Flewere, Wolff spent seven years without creating any

play. The author described this period as a necessary respite.

"Peeer Flewers was a too violent catharsis for myself Since this drama
I haven't been able to write any other play ...I usually cannot tolerate watching
one of my plays. When some director invites me to a rehearsal, l invent any
excuse to leave the theatre, after a little while Now I need a recess, therefore

I'm writing a novel ..."11

In 1977, Wolff wrote Kindergarten obtaining the award of the Chilean
Theatrical Critics. This play was first performed in Chile at the Teatro El Galpdn
de Los Leones. Kindergerten was also performed in Vancouver, Canada in
1982, and in Kaiserslautern, West Germany in 1984.

Kindergerten is a realistic dark comedy about three characters -- two old
brothers and their old sister -- who suffer different sexual problems. The sister's
visit, after ten years of absence, produces an examination of the past, present
and future. These three people live in a childhood psychological state which is

visually presented in a scene where they dance wearing costumes from their

 

11Otano, 19.

13

youth. Kingergarten is the pathetic story of a proud family's downfall. This play
will be reviewed in Chapter III.

This same year, Wolff wrote MLegee, winning the award of the Chilean
Theatrical Critics. The play was first performed in Chile at the Teatro de la
Universidad Catélica.

This realistic drama deals with the relationship between love and sex.
The script tells the story of a 17-year-old girl who comes to live with a married
couple. The couple has been happily married for 25 years and they do not
have any children. When the husband's attention to the girl becomes very
evident, the wife sends the girl away. The play presents the necessity of
establishing love ties instead of creating false illusions. The wife, more

emotionaly developed, says to the girl:

"No, Inés. . . you do not like people. . . What you like is the image of
people, it is what you imagine of them. Men for you are images to fulfill your
fantasies". 1 2

The author shows how easy it is to create mirages -- little fantasies —-
which break the tedium of a monotonous life. This play is perhaps Wolff's most
moralist piece in which the writer promotes the advantages of creating stable
and true relationships.

In 1978, Wolff created The Blue Enveleee. This same year, the play was
first performed in Chile at the Teatro Camilo Henriquez. The Blue Envelom is
an absurd farce in which two identical functionaries -- Sebastian Cereceda and
Sebastian Recereceda -- are threatened with being fired from their jobs. T_h_e
Blue Envelom is a particular description of Chile, when unemployment was

one of the most significant problems.

 

”Wolff. 13mm 88.

14

In 1980, Wolff wrote Jese. The same year the play was first performed in
Chile at the Teatro de Cémara del Teatro Municipal. In 1986, José was
represented in Montevideo, Uruguay.

This realistic drama also deals with the values of the contemporary
society. Foreign influences have invaded and corrupted the old Chilean
system, threatening the family entity. The script tells the story of José, one of the
sons, who comes home from the United States. After an absence of seven
years, José realizes that his family has changed dramatically. The family has
the worst characteristics of a cold and calculating society where there is no
emotion, tenderness or love. The crisis occurs with the prodigal son arriving

who strongly criticizes the new family's values. José says:

"The present-day Chilean individual is becoming practical and
materialistic too. He opened a window to the United States. He is receiving all
the American stink but it smells to him like perfume. Today the Chilean is

learning to be similar to the American and that gladdens his heart". 13

Although José was the one who lived in the United States, the people
who stayed in Chile are the most contaminated by foreign influence.

In this play, Wolff expresses that love, fidelity, human decency,
compassion and dignity must not be sacrificed in order to achieve economic
prosperity I

In 1981, Wolff wrote Peelare on the Flat Roof. The same year, the play
was first performed in Chile at the Teatro de Cémara del Teatro Municipal.

The play is a realistic comedy about a poor family with divorced parents,
and the efforts of their children to reunite them again. Their poverty is presented
as a dramatic and determining element in the couple's separation. Even

though the situation is sad, the play has a lot of humor and tenderness.

 

‘3 Wolff, Teatro ngleto 135.

15

In 1983, Wolff created The Medusa's Raft. In 1984, the play was first
performed in Chile at the Teatro de la Universidad Catolica. A 19th century
painting by Gericault, placed in the Louvre Museum, inspired the playwright.

The play is a complex realistic drama and occurs in an elegant mansion
isolated from society. Three groups of people participate in the story: the
miserable, tattered people who try to invade the house, the mysterious
mansion's owner with his devoted steward, and the guests who come to visit the
mansion. The play shows how these people, in a confined situation, become
more and more inhuman.

In 1985, Wolff wrote Tell Me emut Laure. In 1986 the play was first
performed in Chile at the Teatro de la Universidad Catolica. In 1988, the play
was shown in Vancouver, Canada. The play is a cyclical realistic drama wich
tells the story of a widowed mother and her widower son. They have a very
symbiotic relationship and live very miserably. Mother and son play games,
make jokes, and watch television during the entire play. A more complete
explanation of Tell Me About Laura is given in Chapter III of this thesis.

In 1987, Wolff participated in the Modern Language Congress in San
Francisco, USA.

In 1991, Wolff wrote Dinner Invitatien. In 1993. the play was first
performed in Chile at the Teatro Apoquindo. This realistic comedy was directed
by the playwright and won the award of the Chilean Theatrical Critics. The story
is about three middle-aged couples who share their daily problems during a
dinner.

In 1991, Wolff was invited to the Congreso Sobre Teatro No-Aristotéllco
(Non Aristotelic Theatre) in Barcelona, Spain. To the congress, he gave a
speech about his definition of Vertical Theatre. This same year, Wolff was

invited to give a speech about the present Chilean Theatre in Miami, U.S.A.

16

In 1992, Wolff attended the Latin American Theatrical Assembly in
Kansas, USA.

In 1993, Wolff participated in a world dramatists' meeting in New York.
On that occasion it was determined that Michael Weller would translate into
English four of Wolff's plays, and the Chilean writer would translate into
Spanish some of Weller's pieces.

In 1993, Wolff created Scars. This play will be performed this year in

 

Chile at the Teatro de la Universidad Catolica. This realistic drama describes
the generational conflicts of a Chilean family.

In his more than 30 years of dramatic activity, Egon Wolff has dealt with
psychological themes as well as social criticism. His unique style springs free
of the typical, traditional Chilean realistic and naturalistic theatre.

In addition, Wolff Is recognized as one of the most important Latin
American playwrights for his style, themes and language. His ability to balance
games and cruelty accurately and sensibly describes modern man's alienated

condition.

"I look for the nucleus of the things, their essence. It is like the attitude of
children who break their toys or destroy their dolls in order to see what they
have inside. This intimate penetration to the core of life could represent death. I

clearly have the Greek tension between Eros and Thanatos in myself."14

 

14Otano, 18.

17

CHAPTER II

TH EATRICAL TH EORIES

The Twentieth Centugy and the New Theatre

The conventional forms of the traditional theatre have been questioned
during the present century and new artistic forms emerged to reflect major
changes in society.

In theatre, the corner-stones of the twentieth century are the naturalist
and realistic movements of the nineteenth century, represented by the work of
Ibsen, Chekhov, Hauptmann, Becque and others. Naturalist playwrights
rebelled against farce, melodrama and historical costume dramas which formed
the standard theatre diet of the Victorian entertainment industry. Nevertheless,
these forms "lived on to entertain the twentieth century and formed a basis on
which both the naturalists and those in reaction against them could build their
new and more complex forms of theatre."15

The story of theatre has always been one of rebellion and reaction, in
which the new forms challenge the old and the old forms in turn provide the
basis for the new. Therefore, at the time when naturalism was at its peak in
Europe, the theatre was urgently seeking a justification in myth and ritual at
another level for the visionary quality it had missed in realism.

Symbolism was the first reaction against naturalism. This style has since
been associated with the work of Poe, Wagner and some French poets such us

Mallarmé, Baudelaire, Verlaine, Rimbaud and Valéry.

 

15 T9")! Hodgson, momma (London: B.T. Batsford, 1972) 5.

18

These poets built their ideas "upon a latter-day romantic theory of the
mystical and the occult, the irrational and the world of fantasy and dream

Poetry was not to obey the laws of logic, but of hallucination and the
surreal, so that it should stay pure and free from social relevance."16 01 all
these poets, only Mallarmé described a dramatic symbolism . He conceived
symbolic theatre as a ritualistic form that would combine all the arts and return
to the simple elements of drama. To Mallarmé, the theatre "was a kind of
secular religious experience in which both actor and audience participate and
in which the mystery of the universe is suggested and celebrated; it is
concerned with humanity rather than particular people."17 The most important
symbolist playwrights were Maeterlink, Claudel and Jarry.

The development of psychology, with Freud's discoveries at the end of
the nineteenth century, also determined substantial changes In the arts. His
contributions to the knowledge of the subconscious opened wide new spaces
for interpretation. Previous views had usually idealized rationality; impulse as
well as intuition were looked Upon as urges that needed to be carefully
controlled by reason. Freud explained that human behavior is mainly motivated
by impulses we do not fully understand. In addition he gave an essential
significance to human dreams. He thought dreams have important messages to
be interpreted.

August Strindberg, one of the most influential playwrights of the twentieth
century, used Freud's ideas associated with dreams. Although he wrote many
plays in the historical-romantic, and realistic-naturalistic styles; his last period
corresponds to what Brockett calls "visionary-expressionism." For Brockett,

Strindberg was a visionary artist.

 

16Hodgeon, 2.
17Oscar Brockett, Etug of Innovam' n (Boston:AIlyn and Bacon,1991) 17.

19

"As the twentieth century progressed and the vision of humanity as
alienated increased, Strindberg's work came to seem prophetic. His technical
devices also served as lessons about how psychological states, intuitions, and
the unconscious could be externalized."18

By the early twentieth century, the antirealistic theatre had emerged in
many countries. By the Fifties, after the World Wars, another group of important
playwrights including Beckett, Ionesco, Pinter and others, reacted against the

realistic theatre and created the new theatre.

"Realism is placed out of the reality. Realism constrains, attenuates, and
falsifies reality. Realism does not care about our fundamental obsessions: love,
death, astonishment...Revolutionary is the dreamer, the thinker, the savant; this

is who wants to change the world."19

In this new theatre different tendencies emerged each with its own
characteristics and evolving with its own playwrights. The existentialist theatre,
represented by Camus and Sartre, was the most compelling force in immediate
postwar thought.

They represented a postwar generation whose faith in a logical universe
had been destroyed. Existentialists saw existence as antecedent to essence,
and they strongly defended the idea that "people must define their own values
and find within themselves the bases for choice and action."20

Existentialist playwrights rejected rationalistic interpretations of the
universe, however, they used traditional dramatic structures. Their influence
was more ideological than artistic and they still retained their trust in human
ability to discover a way out of the chaos.

The theatre of the absurd was mainly represented by Ionesco, Beckett,
Jarry. Genet,and Adamov. They agreed with the existentialist themes, but these

playwrights avoided conventional theatrical forms. Absurdists used " a

 

18Oscar Brockett, Qenteg of Innovation 86.
‘96. Serrau, Hm g‘e del Nueve Teetfl, (Mexico: Siglo 21, 1967) 8.

”Museum 310.

20

succession of episodes unified merely by theme or mood instead of a cause-to-
effect arrangement, they arrive at a structure paralleling the chaos which is their
usual dramatic subject."21

Harold Pinter in England and Edward Albee in United States were other
two playwrights who do not represent a particular movement within their
countries, but they introduced new styles which are connected to the theatre of
the absurd.

Significant changes occured in the post-war drama: playwrights
questioned the traditional theatre and proposed new dramatic styles which
rebelled against realism. These new styles were characterized by the

abandoning of cause-to-effect relationships among incidents.

"Rather than developing linearly, action tended to be circular or spiral,
exploring a condition rather than telling a story. Characters tended toward the
typical or archetypal rather than the individual. Time and place were
generalized. Most of the plays occurred in some symbolic location or in a void
cut off from the concrete world. Time was flexible. Language was for the most
part downgraded. Although characters sometimes talked volubly, they usually
recognized that they were playing with speech. Spectacle was used
symbolically or metaphorically to compensate for the devaluation of language.

Distinction between dramatic forms disappeared"22
Egon Wolff calls this new theatre "vertical theatre" as opposed to
traditional "horizontal" theatre. He describes the new dramatic structure as

follows.

 

21Brockett. MW (Boston: Allyn and Baoon,1987) 646
22Brockett. W 313-

21

Vertical and Horizontal Theatre

The most important ideas in Egon Wolff's theatrical theory are his
classification of vertical and horizontal theatre. This theory has been published
in the book El T tr e n P rs tlva Psi l ica: Lo P ic analltico
Texte Dreméthe (The Theatre from a Psychological Perspective:
Psychoanalysis and Dramatic Text) by Egon Wolff and Consuelo Morel, and
articulated in a speech Wolff gave in Barcelona! Spain in October 1991. The
speech was called Conc to obre T tr Verti l. (Concepts About Vertical
Theatre).

In this classification the author discusses the different dramatic structure
of the traditional theatre, which he calls horizontal theatre, versus the new
theatre after World War II, which Wolff calls vertical theatre.

Many of the characteristics Wolff gives to vertical theatre are the same
that Martin Esslin discusses in his book The Theetre of the Absurd. These
include the rejection of traditional concepts of conflict, action, characters, space,
and suspense. However, Wolff adds the idea that those characteristics can be
placed within a new plane: the vertical plane.

The theatre of the Absurd has been mainly regarded, by Esslin, as a new
dramatic form with non-conventional categories. "The plays we are concerned
with here pursue ends quite different from those of the conventional play and
therefore use quite different methods. They can be judged only by the
standards of the Theatre of the Absurd..."23

Instead of using the terms conventional and absurd, Wolff prefers to talk
about Horizontal versus Vertical theatre. Therefore in explaining the

conventional (or realistic) theatre he says: "We understand that the concepts of

 

23Martin Esslin, The Iheatre of me Ameaondon: Penguin Books, 1968) 22.

22

action and reaction, argumentation and re argumentation are linear and
horizontal. They move consecutively and go to an end, which is indefinite
during the action but it is definite when the climax is reached. This is easy to
demonstrate analyzing any play of the long tradition of horizontal theatre, which
has been popular since men have written theatre for imitating life. From the
Greek dithyram, which confronted the gods' will against human will, until the
beginning of our century."24

While Esslin indicates that at the 20th century, the Theatre of the Absurd
"...strives to express its sense of the senselessness of the human condition and
the inadequacy of the rational approach by the open abandonment of rational
devices and discursive thought."25 Egon Wolff says that : "In the mid-20th
century, theatre becomes more vertical, in which the facts do not have a logical
order.. The tendency of this new theatre is more penetrative than explicative,

and it deals with unconscious dimensions more than conscious levels."26

The Dramati a e: Action nflict n Dev Io m nt.

Egon Wolff explains that theatre is always a confrontation, where
opposite forces collide. In horizontal theatre, the confrontation occurs on a
plane in which each of the actions is the consequence of an earlier action and
that continuity is defined within a horizontal space.

Esslin states that conventional plays have a cleverly constructed story
and a fully explained theme. Wolff thinks that horizontal theatre is mainly based

in a story. It is a story in which the protagonist takes a course of action and the

 

24Egon Wolff and Consuelo Morel, IT tr e u a P rs ' Psi l i .(Santiago: Universidad
CatOIica, 1991) 86.

25Esslin, The Theatre of the Absurd, 24.
26mm, IT na ecti Pilica86.

23

antagonist takes an opposing course. The theme of the play is expressed
through these actions.

Esslin says that "The action In a play of the Theatre of the Absurd is not
intended to tell a story but to communicate a pattern of poetic images."27 "The
total action of the play, instead of proceeding from point A to point B, as in other
dramatic conventions, gradually builds up the complex pattern of the poetic
image that the play expresses."28

Wolff agrees, saying that "In vertical theatre the actions do not need
justification and causality In the vertical dramatic structure the facts happen by
themselves without roots in the past or in formal organization. The facts emerge
from the instant necessity of the characters to express their anguish or to
explore the other characters' souls". 29

Therefore, Wolff emphasizes the idea that incoherent action's
development in Vertical Theatre, expresses the characters' nature and reality.
On the other hand, Esslin thinks that incongruity in the Theatre of the Absurd
mainly reveals the poetic image of the play.

In searching for the origins of these new dramatic forms Wolff explains
that vertical theatre is the expression of an over-informed "man" who has lost his
ability to create fables and who has begun to give relative meanings to the
consequences of the facts . This modern man does not believe in poetic justice,
where evil is redeemed or punished.

Esslin says that the Theatre of the Absurd is the reflection of a time in
which "the certitudes and unshakable basic assumptions of former ages have
been swept away, that they have been tested and found wanting, that they have

been discredited as cheap and somewhat childish illusions. The decline of

 

27Esslin,1ne Thgtg 91 the Absurd, 393.
28Esslin, me Theatre er the Apeurg, 406

 

24

religious faith was masked until the end of the Second War by the substitute

religions of faith in progress, nationalism, and various totalitarian fallacies30.

The Dramatic Structure and Characters.

Esslin says that many of the Absurd plays have a circular structure,
ending exactly as they began, and others progress only by a growing
intensification of the initial situation. Wolff thinks that Vertical theatre is circular
and centrifugal because it rotates and accelerates to the interior. In this circular
movement the past acquires an important presence.

Vertical plays circulate around man as the nucleus and his antagonisms
where the present is a fixed fact. Only the return to the past seems to have
enough dramatic charge for developing the conflict and keeping the audience's
attention. "The wealth of vertical theatre emerges from the diverse roads
characters trace and go over to the past in order to extract from it, the rich
fantasy which makes the present interesting to watch"31. Here Wolff is mainly
referring to plays by such authors as Albee and Pinter.

Another difference is that in horizontal structure the characters have
coherent psychological behaviors and their reactions are logical. They relate to
previous actions and those actions proceed to create the climax of the play. But
in vertical plays, characters have a more irrational conduct.

Esslin says that absurd characters are in constant flux and they do not
have motivation for their actions. On this point Esslin is more complete than
Wolff because he refers to the audience's identification with characters. "With

such characters it is almost impossible to identify: the more mysterious their

 

3°Esslin, 3mg Thgtre ef the Absurd, 23.
31Wolff, El Ieetro Me uga Foreman Psiglegig, 88.

25

action and their nature, the less human the characters become, the more

difficult it is to be carried away into seeing the world from their point of view."32

The Stoi_'yI the TimeI and some Examgles

In vertical theatre the plot can be very simple: a meeting in a bedroom, a
bar, or a public park. And the time passing can be very short: an evening to
dive into the past and enough time for characters to blame each other with
charges, complaints and aggressiveness.

In Albee's Who'e Afreid ef Virginie Wmlf, for example, the story is
minimalistic and occurs in a simple place: a married couple entertains another
young couple at their home, and during a short time -- an evening -- both
couples attack each other until they all confess the intimate secrets of their lives.
Through this simple story, each of the characters blames the others and
discovers a past full of pain and solitude.

In Beckett's Waiting for QQQQt the story is about two characters, Vladimir
and Estragon, who wait for somebody who never comes. Through their static
waiting, the spectator experiences "the flow of time in its purest, most evident
form."33 Therefore, the time passing is short and it emphasizes the static

situation.

 

32Essiin, The Tum of m Agurd, 401.
33Esslin, 49.

26

Susgense

The idea of suspense also changes in vertical theatre. In horizontal
theatre suspense is achieved by the anticipation of the future events. If the
author is coherent in the structure of his characters, the public will anticipate
what will happen later. That speculation will catch the public's attention, being
one of the keys of many horizontal classical plays. The same idea is given by
Esslin when he says that suspense, in the conventional plays, is based in the
question "What is going to happen next?"34

In the vertical structure, however, the suspense is achieved by the inner
exploration of the characters. The author needs to create situations in which the
characters sincerely discover their anguish, pain and aggressiveness in order
to catch the audience's attention.

Vertical theatre has a "confessional nature"3s , which makes it very
successful today when human introspection has been developed and
popularized by modern psychology. Confession keeps the attention of the
spectator who watches and expects the next revelation.

For Esslin the suspense in the Theatre of the Absurd is mainly based on
the question: What does the action of the play represent? In addition he states
that, "Instead of being provided with a solution, the spectator is challenged to
formulate the questions that he will have to ask if he wants to approach the
meaning of the play."36

Therefore, Wolff agrees with Esslin by discussing suspense within
horizontal -- conventional -- plays, but their description of suspense within

vertical -- absurd -- plays is different. For Wolff, suspense is achieved through

 

34Essiin, 408.
35Wolff, El Teatro De una Pers ' Psi l ica 92.
36Esslin, 408.

27

the characters' inner exploration, for Esslin, suspense is achieved through

discovering the play's meaning.

Duality and Progression.

Duality is one of the basics of horizontal theatre where the conflict is
originated by two opposite forces. By necessity it involves two forces, the
protagonist and the antagonist, for developing the dramatic action. Duality is
not a condition for vertical theatre, in which the conflict generally is generated
and developed inside the characters. Tension is the product of the conflict
between their defenses and their revelations. The spectator enjoys watching
this process where the characters’ souls are dissected.

Horizontal plays have a direction in which the events are normally ruled
by a resolution which addresses all the previous conflict. The resolution is
achieved at the end of the play and represents the author's ethical goal. For
that reason horizontal theatre is more epic in nature, where each of the events
needs exposition and resolution to reach a coherent end.

For Esslin in conventional theatre "The pattern of exposition, conflict, and final
solution mirrors a view based on a recognizable and generally accepted pattern
of an objective reality that can be apprehended so that the purpose of man's
existence and the rules of conduct it entails can be deduced from it "37

In vertical plays, events are not explained by an order or project in the
future, but the actions occur vertically, unearthing hidden, ignored, and feared
inner truths. The dramatic forces have a more metaphysical progression where

the facts are the description of the characters but not the motive.

 

37Esslin, 405.

28

For Esslin the Theatre of the Absurd "...is a theatre of situation as against
a theatre of events in sequence And since it is trying to present a sense of

being, it can neither investigate nor solve problems of conduct or morals."33

Meaning of Vertical Theatre

In the vertical theatre the theme of sense and nonsense is a very
recurrent topic for its playwrights. The breakdown of language and its inability
to communicate are shown as the main sources of this problem. There is no
hope in the future, there is no solution in the past, and there is no perspective in
the present which "can only circulate around it self."39 People cannot progress
and cannot communicate with each other.

This is the same aspect that Esslin discusses in the significance of the
Absurd when he states that "communication between human beings is so often
shown in a state of breakdown in the Theatre of the Absurd. It is merely a
satirical magnification of the existing state of affairs. Language has run riot in
an age of mass communication."40

In vertical theatre, playwrights often show the hopelessness of a post-war
European society. In addition, they frequently do not believe in theatrical
mechanisms. Some authors thought there was nothing to be expressed,
nothing that deserves to be expressed; however they were obligated to express
something. "The link between the person and the thing does not exist any

more...There are too many things. The eye is unable to captivate them, and the

 

33Essiin, 393.

”mm, El Teetro we una Peepectica Psiooiggig, 75.
40Esslin, 399.

29

intelligence is incapable to comprehend them...For that we create our own
world, an apart universe, for moving away...for escaping to the chaos...”1

Although most of these absurdist playwrights do not believe in the
possibility of effective communication, their plays and characters sUrpass this
problem and achieve an Important communication with the audience.

For Wolff, vertical theatre lets us think from another angle and in another
level about irrational phenomenas which are in our world and in part of our
lives. For Esslin, "The theatre of the Absurd expresses the anxiety and despair
that spring from the recognition that man is surrounded by areas of
impenetrable darkness, that he can never know his true nature and purpose,
and that no one will provide him with ready-made rules of conduct."42

Egon Wolff as well as Martin Esslin offers interesting descriptions of the
dramatic structure of the non-realistic drama which can be called both Vertical
Theatre and the Theatre of the Absurd. The distinction is not really important,
but the significance is. This theatre produces an insight into the actual human
drama: the lack of ties between people In a world full of people, the lack of
communication in a world full of communication mediums, the lack of hope in
the future in a world full of statistical projections, and the lack of sense in a world

full of rationality.

"Horizontality is a product of my need to see the order in the shaping of
my materials. Verticality, on the other hand, is the result of my need to escape it.
I would like to be more chaotic. Sometimes I succeded, but it is at the price of

my internal balance, since my more profound structure is an orderly one"43.

 

41S. Beckett, El lnnombrable, (SantiagozAlianza, 1968) 83.
42Essiin, 416.
43Wolff, personal interview.

CHAPTER III

ANALYSIS OF FOUR PLAYS

1W

Tell Me Amm Leura is a three-scene realistic drama which tells the story
of Alberto, a middle-aged widower and shoe salesman, and Cata, his widowed
mother and housekeeper. They live very poorly and are very dependent on
each other. Television and old stories told by the mother are their only forms of
entertainment. Their life is miserable. Trapped within the four walls of a squalid
apartment and menial work, mother and son kill time conversing, playing verbal
games, carrying out ridiculous jokes, and performing empty rituals such as
watching television and sipping hot cocoa.

The action occurs in a cramped and untidy living room filled with useless
and incongruous objects. The physical appearance of the two characters also
seems neglected and careless. The mother, in her sixties, appears in each
scene in a "shabby bathrobe and bedroom slippers, with an extinguished
cigarette dangling from her Iips."44 The son is described most unattractively as
" a little fat, smooth, and disheveled.”S The setting and the characters'
appearance both reflect a lack of accomplishment, pride, and motivation that is
subsequently communicated in the dialogue.

The conflict does not develop through shifts in the plot or changes in the
characters. The three scenes are parallel: each begins with the son's coming

from his job to his home, where his mother awaits him. In the three scenes they

 

‘4 Wont. Team-maids 264.
45 Wolff, Teet_r_o Cemgleto, 264.

30

31

joke with each other and watch television together. One of the topics of
conversation is Alberto's plan to marry somebody called Laura. In fact, this
subject is just an example of his inventiveness, as is Cata's story about
Alberto's father. The truth is that mother and son have a very symbiotic
relationship in which there has never been and will never be room for anybody
else.

The plot is written in a cyclical structure in which the conflict does not
produce any change in the status quo. The repetitive games give the play a
ritual atmosphere. These games are the only source, within a very static
situation, of dramatic tension, in which bizarre tricks provide refuge from a
tedious existence. Wolff explains that this play reflects his "own hopelessness
toward human beings and in their capacity of changing"46

Tell Me About Laura, as the title suggests, contains dialogue which
produces important activity for the characters. In a recent study of Wolff's
theatre. Jacqueline Eyring observes that in this play "... the dialogue is virtually
the only activity performed by the characters, and as such, the primary source of
dramatic tension and interest Nothing happens, that is, except language, a
slippery and equivocal language that at once constitutes and undermines the
reality of the play. Words fill the void of the characters' dreary lives while at the
same time underscoring that very same existential emptiness.

Language functions not only as sole activity, but also as a substitute for
tangible, significant action and as the means of conveying the characters'
unfulfilled wish for a concrete change in their situation."47

The paradox in Tell Me About Leura is that instead of using the language

to communicate with each other, mother and son use it to kill time or to attack

 

46Wolff, personal interview.

”Jacqueline Eyring, Lenguage in_/es Action in Egon Wolff's Hablarne de Laug (Virginia: University of
Virginia Press, 1989) 50.

32

each other. They do not achieve through their dialogue any real or permanent
change in their situation or in their unorthodox relationship. Rather than
successful communication, their talking consists mainly of what Eyring calls
"talking at cross-purposes", whereupon the intended communication fails
because the characters "reciprocally defeat each other's attempts at
conversational progress"48 Instead of attending to Cata's annoying comments
or answering her foolish questions, Alberto prefers to sleep in front of his mother
or to turn Up the television volume to drown out her voice. In a similar way, Cata
leaves the room when she can no longer tolerate Alberto's verbal
aggressiveness.

Structurally, the play's three scenes are parallel: each starts with
Alberto's return from his job as a shoe salesman, on three consecutive days. In
the first scene he is tired, removes his shoes, turns on the television, and falls
into a chair. Cata greets her son with a fresh cup of hot cocoa liberally laced
with salt. After the joke, the mother asks Alberto to demand a substantial pay
raise. In the second scene, Alberto enters filthy and rumpled, with blood spots
on his shirt and his knee. He has been mugged -- or so it seems. However, it is
another of their usual games.

In the third scene, Cata screams Upon realizing that the room is full of
smoke. Suddenly Alberto melodramatically enters and describes a huge fire
outside the apartment. After a period of panic and hysteria, Alberto shows the
fire: a smoking grill just outside the door.

For Eyring, in Tell Me Amgt Leura, the jokes as well as the language

operate at a complex level of interpretation.

"While extremely childish, these pranks acquire a ritualistic character
through their repetition in each scene and the characters' obvious reliance on

 

48Eyring, 51.

them as not only a source of entertainment but also an integral part of their
existence. Rather than contradict what occurs on the linguistic level, the jokes
complement the discourse, for they at once depend on language for their
success and serve as a visual manifestation of the same search for amusement

33

that is evident throughout the play in the discourse."49

Another important part of this play revolves around the stories the
characters tell. When Cata and Alberto are not performing any of their games,
they take part in dull dialogue and in an exchange of episodes in an effort to kill
time and to enjoy themselves. Because the jokes offer only a short moment of
relief, the storytelling is needed to tolerate their solitude. The spectator is also

caught up by trying to distinguish truth from fantasy because some of the stories

are obviously false, but others seem very credible.

The very title of the play, Tell Me Amut Legra, stresses the importance of
this particular story in the play. It represents the possibility of a rupture in the
characters' symbiotic relationship. Like all of Alberta's tales, Laura's story

seems very probable at the beginning, but at the end of the tale it becomes

morbid and unbelievable.

CATA: (With anger) You could have been successful
in what you had wanted, and you know that! The
problem with you is that you have always been a
coward, that's it! (Pause) You already know how I
think.

(Pause. They stay silent. Then. . . )

ALBERTO: Laura thinks the same.

CATA: And who is Laura?

ALBERTO: Didn't I ever tell you about the new young
woman who entered the store?

CATA: No, you never told me.

ALBERTO: I sleep with her.

CATA: Ohl here you go again!

ALBERTO: It is true, true...She is a very beautiful
young woman; a true beauty. She is so ugly that
Lozada does not know whether he should put her

 

49Eyring, 51.

34

inside the store to make packages, far away from the
customers, or just fire her and get it over with. 50

CATA: (Screaming) Don't kid around about
something so serious. Tell me very seriously, like a
man...you are going to leave me. Aren't you?
ALBERTO: Mother you see spiders... Do you know
what we found the other day, in one of our
necrophiliac excursions, Laura and me?

CATA: I don't want to know anything! I only want you
to confess the truth, if you are man enough! You are
going to leave me. Aren't' you?...l' m asking you,
damn it! What does that bitch have that I cannot give
you?

ALBERTO: A navel the shape of a carnation, that's
what she has...and this is something that you could
never show off to anybody, mother, even in one
hundred years.

CATA: Don't evade the issue, coward! I ask you for
the last time: what does that harlot have that I cannot
give you?

ALBERTO: Funereal fantasies in mournful
tombstones. That's what she gives me...lsn't it

enough? 51

Tell Me Amet Laure has a cyclical structure and an open ending. In the
closing scene Alberto and Cata are embracing while watching television. Their
life, as Alberto says, is and will be the same as it always has been: "...this
room...one door...one window...a long waiting."52

The two characters of the play have a failed relationship in which the
mother cannot let her son grow up, and the son cannot live independently from
his mother. Both have always lived together in the same apartment without any
bodyelse. Alberto has a job in the outside world, but Cata stays at home all the

time. Nevertheless, the mother had, at least, another earlier relationship with

 

5°Wolff. mom 284.
51Wolff, Teatro Comm, 290.
52mm. W 328.

35

Alberto's father. She seldom talks about this experience and when she does,

she Idealizes the situation, which probably was painful for her.

CATA: ...after those two hours, we reached a very
green harbor, with many colorful little houses on the
hills around the bay. The sky was full of masts and
sails. People walked on the dike I climbed up the
sunny path. The lieutenant followed me. I climbed
merry and light, while my heart throbbed in my
breast and my blood thumped in my eardrums

I was so excited that I could have died. All inside
my body was an ardent bubble Suddenly I faintedl,
a sweet happiness invaded me Everything
penetrated me: the harbor, the breeze, the birds, the

water ...l53

Despite the fact that Alberto is the product of Cata's experience with
another person, they have developed a symbiotic relationship in which there is
no real space for anybody else. Both have a frustrated sexuality: Alberto is not
interested in any real woman but in the fictional Laura, and Cata lives with the
idealized memory of the lieutenant.

Alberto cannot tolerate long separations from his mother; yet he cannot
leave his mother: "I am a fool in love with you mother! Only you and me,
mother and son, tied by a mutual huge love, and blessed by God..."54

Alberto doesn't have the capacity for developing a romantic relationship
with a woman, even more, when he creates the story about Laura, he charges
the tale with destruction and dead: "The girl, Laura, likes to watch the tombs,
the boy, Alberto, does too. We have something in common. They walk together
over the tombstones. I tell her about the movies I have seen, and she tells me

about the ones she will never see..."55

 

53Wolff, Teego Completo, 298.
54Wolff, Tgtro Complete, 326.

55mm, mm 289.

36

Although Alberto is very dependent on his mother, he knows they have a
wrong relationship, and his anguish over that situation results from the fact that
he sees the destruction in which they live. He tries to change their situation, but
Cata traps him, and he fails, becoming very frustrated.

The mother cannot see his son as he really is. She idealizes his abilities
and demands of him more than he can achieve: "Lozada (the boss) is nothing
without you, he becomes helpless without you. Don't you see you are the best
salesman in his store?..."56 Alberto suffers because of his mother's
requirements and tries to show her how he is: "Alberto thinks he is a failure,
mother... Please, Cata, stop dreaming! Don't you see how you crush me with
your dreams? I want you to see me as I really am! Don't you realize that if you
see me as I am, I could also see myself better?"57

At the end of the play, a little change is produced in Cata, when she is
able to see her son as a very damaged person. In that moment they have a

painful discussion and they achieve real communication.

ALBERTO: Don't you see that In that moment life hurt
us, mother? Don't you see that from that moment we

were like two brothers?58

Tell Me ebout Laera is an interesting play which juxtaposes the beauty
and kindness of the human condition with its less attractive side. These two
slovenly, crazy, and interdependent people try to survive by playing abusive
games full of black humor. The play is a metaphor of any relationship in which

people destroy each other, instead of growing together.

 

55w6iir, Teetro Comglete, 177.
57w6irr, Teetro Complete, 287.

58Wolff. mm 300-

37

Wolff gives us two very funny characters who live a very dramatic

situation. The dialogues are consistent and the conflict is well developed.

38

The Invaders

The Invegers is a drama divided into three acts. The play is set in the
house of a rich family in the city of Santiago, Chile. The parents are Lucas
Meyer and his wife Pieta. This wealthy middle-aged couple have two young
children: Marcela and Bobby. At the beginning of the first act, the parents are
coming home after a party. They talk about their happiness and their fortune.
However, Pieta is a little anxious about their future. She is worried about the
latest news that some very poor people are descending on the affluent
neighborhoods of the city. Lucas tries to calm his wife by convincing her that:
"Poor people are completely innocuous"59 The couple leaves the living room
(and the scene) to go to the second floor.

Moments later, a window pane is broken and the window is opened by a
dirty hand. Through the opened window enters a ragged poor man who has a
carnation in his old jacket. Hearing noise of the breaking glass, Meyer comes
quickly with a gun and threatens to kill the intruder if he doesn't leave the house
immediately. The intruder, without any fear, says he prefers to stay. When
Meyer realizes that he cannot kill the stranger, he asks his name. "People call
me China" the stranger answers, "and you are Lucas Meyer, the industrialist
and now, after this first formal introduction, you can go to bed, if you want I
understand it is enough for you for this first meeting. God bless you and your
pretty wife in your dreams Good night."60

After these first two scenes, more tattered people invade the house and
other rich houses of the city. Meyer is trapped by China, who knew him in the

past; Meyer feels guilty because China knows some secrets about him and an

 

59Wolff, Los Invasores.(Santiagc: Ercilla, 1970) 10.
60Wolff, Los Invasores, 17.

39

associate who mysteriously died some years ago. For that reason, Meyer
cannot force China to leave the house.

As time passes, Meyer becomes more and more frightened by the
Invasion. In addition, the play progresses from reality to surreality in which
Meyer sees all kinds of specters who annoy him: nuns asking for money,
children asking for food, and fired workers asking for jobs. After all this
persecution, Meyer is convinced that this situation is the revenge of the dead
associate's family. The industrialist cannot tolerate his guilt and screens: "Stop!
Stop! ...I killed him! I killed him! 61

At that moment, Pieta awakens Meyer. He seems relieved realizing
everything was a bad dream. He tells his family about the story of the invaders.
His wife and children listen to his tale, while a dirty hand breaks a window in the
living room of their house, and the play finishes.

The lnveders is a drama in which the apparent realism serves to
underline the unreal element: the play depends on a dream which disguises
the reality, and it is not clear when the dream begins or ends.

As the title itself suggests, the plot tells the story about the invasion of
vagrants into the province of the well-to-do. Although the play is a drama
written in a conventional structure (horizontal in Wolff's classification), it has
some nonrealistic elements which represent the protagonist's fantasies.

The play has a very short exposition and therefore an early point of
attack. The conflict is produced between Meyer, the protagonist; and China, the
antagonist. Nevertheless, this conflict represents a struggle between two
separate parts of society: the rich and the poor.

The context, as well as the message of the play, are suggested by

China's dialogue at the end of the play: "Wealth penetrates people's

 

61Wolff. mam 85-

4O

personalities creating deep roots It becomes second nature which distorts
their entire reality ..."62 These lines describe the atmosphere of The Invaders,
in which reality is deformed by a dream.

The characters of The Invaders can be interpreted on different levels.
They can be analyzed as real people, they can be interpreted as symbols of
different social classes, and they can also be described as allegorical within the
protagonist's dream. Margaret Peden, in her study of the present Chilean
theatre, observes that in The lnvadere "the tension, the drama of the play, is
expressed through the characters, not merely by them."63 But Luz Hurtado, In
her description of characters in The Invaders, says: "Although the characters
are very convincing, they really are symbols of different social classes."64
Peden questions this interpretation because "The two remaining characters
especially are just the opposite of stereotypes. Toletole, the sad little clown,
and the ambiguous China are magically real characters: China is never really
defined, and the development of the play lifts both characters into the world of
the unreal. It is the mystery of China and Toletole that makes The Inveeers such
a powerful play."6S

Lucas Meyer, the most complex character of the play, represents the two
themes of the play: he feels guilty about his associate's murder and frightened
of possible revenge by the dead person's family. To achieve his very good
economic position, Meyer has repressed his sensitivity to injustice and poverty:
"I'm Lucas Meyer That means that I had to take decisions which have

hardened my heart."66

 

62Wolff, Los Invasores, 56.

63Margaret Peden, Three plays of Egon Welff.(Austin: University of Texas Press, 1969) 50.
64Hurtado, 78.

65Peden, 51.

66Wolff, The Invaders, 59.

41

The conflict between Meyer and the invaders could be seen as the moral
conflict inside his consciousness. The conflict is well described by China when
he says to Meyer: "The people are not rebelling against you; You are very
obsessed with the idea that your life is important to us Is it so difficult to think
that what occurs outside is only a necessary crusade? A simple game for
justice? Come on! I Invite you to watch the reality. It is a spectacle which the
spirit enjoys. Come, join us. Come, follow us."67 The words "obsessed",
"game", and "spectacle" are related to the dreamy situation.

Meyer, by keeping his identity, never understands the true nature of the
invasion. He believes it is personal revenge, instead of a social movement. He
doesn't comprehend that for the squatters there Is not one particular guilty
person but the entire upper class.

China is a very special indigent. He is cultivated and clever. His
criticisms of Meyer's behavior are accurate and blunt. China is a well
developed antagonist who makes Meyer recognize the truth. He has a tender
relationship with Toletole, whom he takes care of. As the leader of the invaders,
China doesn't want violent revenge.

He is peaceful and just: "...I don't want death I want life for them! I want
life for us!.. A slow, long and bright life, with the absolute certainty we won't
need to sack nevermore."68 China disapproves of the other invaders when they
try to steal or damage Meyer's goods. He wants a peaceful solution: "I wish
that in the end everything had been done as inside white sheets clean, like
the heart of one of our dead ones ..."69

Pieta, Meyer's wife, is a beautiful, cold, and materialistic woman. She is

very proud of their social position. She praises her husband's ability to

 

67Wolff, The Invaders, 71.
68Wolff, The Invegeg, 55.
69Wolff, The Invadefi, 57.

42

accumulate wealth: "You have never doubted, you have never failed. You put
your eyes on something and then you get it. You simply achieve it. Perhaps
you got me in that way too"70. Although Pieta is very happy at the beginning of
the play, she is also afraid about something: "And why do I have this feeling of
vertigo? Of a dangerous unbalance? I believe in divine justice Yes,
yes, perhaps it is only a primitive superstition that the same people cannot
always achieve the best."71

Toletole represents the opposite side of Pieta. She is poor, single,
homeless and ugly. However, she is also happy and doesn't have any fear.
Toletole admires China and respects him. She Is not clever; she doesn't know
why they are invading Meyer's home. She only wishes for a beautiful dress and
a huge plate of food.

In The Invaeers, Wolff created a group of very magical characters who
swing between reality and fantasy.

The message of the play is very clear: a warning to the rich that poor
people can rebel! against social injustice. However, this theme is secondary to
the play's dramatic form. It is very significant how Wolff develops the plot
around a dreamy and surrealistic situation; and how he introduces, in the plot,
the two principal themes of the play: guilt and fear. '

Egon Wolff is not the first playwright of using a dream to tell a story. This
technique has a long tradition. Calderon's g Vida ee Suehe and Priestley's An
Insefitor Calle, are some significant examples.

Perhaps the universal struggle between different classes is something

not very interesting today, but in the sixties it was a main concern in many Latin

 

70Wolff, The lnyagers, 6.
71Wolff, Tm lnyaders, 7.

43

American countries. Therefore The lnveders is not a kind of play which can be

fully appreciated in all times; it was an important play for a specific period.

44

Kindergarten

Kindergarten Is a realistic, dark comedy written In three acts . It tells the
story of two old brothers, Mico and Tof’io, who have lived together for a long
time.. Although they come from a well known family in Santiago society, their
life is miserable economically and otherwise. The two brothers live from the
profits of an umbrella store administrered by Mico, and from the sale of a few
jewels that still remain from the times when the family was wealthy.

At the beginning of the play the two brothers seem very worried because
Meche, their sister, is coming to visit them for a few days. Meche is coming to
seek her daughter whom she left as a child. The daughter, who is married, lives
In the same city as Meche's brothers.

The brothers do not like the idea of having another person sharing their
daily lives. Mico, who maintains both himself and his lazy brother, is very
concerned about the extra money his sister will make him spend; and Tofio,
who has convinced his sister by letters that he is a responsible and serious
man, is anxious about having the truth come out.

T060 and Mico have a complex routine of games. By means of these
games, in which they play different roles and wear costumes, they disguise their
anguish and fear. The two aging brothers have significant sexual psychological
problems; and the games, where they behave like children, allow them to
relieve their tensions. It is this reality as well that Toho and Mico do not want to
show or to share. But the sister's visit is inevitable, and they have to alter their
lifestyle to accomodate the guest.

VWth the appearance of Meche, the story develops a new twist. They
change their games and new conflicts appear. The kindergarten has a new

member: now three children have a common, painful past In which they can find

45

the origins of their neurosis. However, they do not want to confront their truths
and they try to maintain the games and disguises.
Two other incidents build the story. One is that Meche is well received by

her daughter, therefore she decides to stay:

MECHE: (Answering the phone) Hy! Angelita? Is
this you, my little daughter? (almost crying) Yes,
your mother, my honey! Oh, yes, yes. No, never
more. Yes, in your uncles house. Yes, don't worry, I
will live with them.

TONO: (Looking at MIco) Oh, Jesus, It seems it Is
unavoidable! Three Sénchez-Uriartes under the
same roof! The infernal circle will be closed. Two
was unbearable enough, but now three! We will

suffer misfortune for ever! 72

The other important incident which changes the story Is related to Toho.
He has become very nervous because of some phone calls he has been
receiving. He tells his brother and sister that he has an old debt with a tailor.
But Meche and Mice, who are curious about this, do not believe Toho's story.
Then Toho confesses he has been playing cards, and the men who phoned him
want him to pay back the money he owes them. A new struggle begins: Toho
asks Mico for the money, Mico refuses, and Meche calls Mico "a cold and
greedy person" and Toho "a stupid and irresponsible man".73

Because Mico persists in refusing, Toho is forced to make a new
confession: he is being blackmailed by a man who has some pornographic
pictures of Toflo with a teenager. In addition there is evidence in the police
department of an earlier moral’s charge. This extreme threat of humiliation to
the Sanchez-Uriarte's family gives a kind of resolution to the play's conflict:

Mico acceeds to give money to Tono, and that fact quickly brings about their last

 

72Egon.WoIff, Kindergerten. (Santiago: Editorial Nascimento, 1978) 54.
73Wolff, Kindergarten, 40.

46

battle. In the final confrontation, after a long game in which Mico and Meche
had been reproaching Toho for his sexual appetites, Toho decides to take
revenge on Mico by telling an old secret about Mico: he had tried to castrate
himself with a knife. This crude revelation makes Mico desperate enough to
confess all his sexual perversions. Mico's confession represents Toho's
victory: the clean, organized and supporting Mico is as corrupt as he.

After this last battle, a kind of balance is achieved. However, the
spectator knows that these three aging children will play many more games
inside their kindergarten in the future.

The play is structured around the conflicts caused by the brothers'
differences. The contrast is significant: Mico is obsessed with money, order,
and cleanliness. He tries to be refined and sophisticated, but he seems
ridiculous and effeminate. Toho, the other brother, has a disreputable life style,
"a sort of 19203 playboy."74 He is a liar and a loafer by nature: he expects
Mico to support him, while he mistreats his brother by creating false sexual
stories about Mico and the nuns. These two brothers are rivals: each of them
has quite different moral standards.

Kingergerten has a markedly ritual nature in which the characters repeat
games, acts, and sentiments. For Frank Dauster these games represent an
escape from their suffering: "The two brothers have a whole series of obsessive
tics, but they too are acting: behind the effeminate housekeeper or the
bohemian would-be gentleman, are two tortured beings. This is why they
engage In mutual torment; this Is why the arrival of Meche converts this ritual
game into something new and Infinitely more promising: alliances of two

against one."75

 

74Dauster, 6.
75Dauster, 7.

47

Therefore, Meche's arrival produces an important change in the conflict:
where there were two sides in the conflict, there is now a triangle which is
divided in two: two against one. VWthin this new dramatic function the roles
alternate. Most of the time, Meche and Mico are against Toi'io for his lies and
laziness, but, at times Meche and Tono attack Mico for his miserliness. The
family nucleus is altered because of the games of two against one, the tension
increases, and the confrontation becomes more painful. Margaret Seyers
Peden In describing this alteration says : "Wolff effects his Internal tension
through the shifting and precariously balanced state of domination/submission,
affection/repulsion games played between the two brothers and the sister." 76
But this new triangular structure also gives the characters the possibility of
having a companion with whom to share the distress of this game of
victimization.

Many times the characters seem almost able to lower their defense
mechanisms and touch their own true emotions. However, when they begin to
feel the pain, they escape by inventing another game.

In Kindergerten no one wins. In addition, there is no victory of a
particular point of view. Wolff only describes these kinds of people "for whom all
tomorrow will be equal to yesterday and today..."77 Therefore, the dramatic
action of the play originates in the characters' small insights and confessions.
For these three adults, who live as if they were children in a kindergarten, there
are neither big triumphs, nor spectacular defeats. Their affairs will always be
small, but not for all that, any less dramatic.

"At last they are reunited in the house, in the holy place, under the

shadow of the mother ever present in their memories, and when a threat comes,

 

76Dauster, 9.
77Dauster, 9.

48

they huddle together protecting each other and themselves in a relationship of
mutual dependence beyond any difficulties between them. They know they are
in need, and together they attempt to exorcise their manias and their terrors.
They never make it to maturity; they are locked in their own infantillsm, but
within this infantilism they continue to clutch to life, and in this struggle we find
the triumph of Wolff and his creations."78

Kindergarten, as the title suggests, is the story of two aging brothers and
an old sister, who live together and behave like children. The three characters
return to their childhood by playing children's games. Wolff says about these
characters: "Nobody had written before about this theme in my country. The
pathetic and solitary old people have been forgotten by Chilean playwrights.
Everybody is too worried about youth! Perhaps this is the expression of a
country which valuates sensations more than wisdom." 79

Mice is the oldest brother. He supports the household by administering
an umbrella store. He is very stingy with the money and very obsessed with the
house cleaning. He tries to remain an aristocrat, but he is poor and pathetic.
Mico pretends he is the most chaste and pure of the three, but at the end of the

play he confesses his real sexual nature:

MICO: You don't understand! I began to feel my skin
burning at an age when you were just playing with
toys. I couldn't see a female's leg without having
fantasies. A female's breast raised my blood
pressure. I was always a troubled boy One day,
from a little window, I spied Aunt Adelaida and Uncle
Abddn while they made love. (Pause) I died one
hundred times that day near the window. I swore to
rid myself of that obsession. I began to take baths in
the cold water of the river. At night, I slept with a

 

78Dauster, 9.
79Wolff, personal interview.

49

crucifix over my mouth ...(Screaming). Oh, Jesus,
Toi'lol I still masturbate myself! I do it, Tof'io80

Mico Is the oldest brother who cannot overcome his infantile condition.

Toho has all the characteristics that Mico denies having. He Is very
proud of being a playboy. He is happy for not having to work and he thinks that
money is to be spent. Toho is also a child who needs to play games to express
his feelings because he has many problems in communicating his inner self.

At the end of the play, after Mico's crude confession, he cannot console
his brother: "Toho watches his brother. He Is perturbed and confused. He is not
the kind of man for these situations. He cannot confront his own pain, therefore
he cannot tolerate others' distress."81 Because Tofio is not able to take

seriously Mico's revelation, he answers with a kind of joking dialogue:

TONO: What was it? Theatre or truth? If it was
theatre I think Lawrence Olivier would become green
with envy looking at your Ophelia. Come on, I don't
know what you want with those emotional
disclosures! Who do you think I am ? Sigmund
Freud?82

Despite Toi'io's lies, he does not pretend to be a saint. He is more
sincere than Mico, showing his imperfections and limitations.

Meche Is a "sort of silent film vampire abandoned by the latest in a series
of lovers"33 Because of her many love affairs, she had been considered the

black sheep of the Sénchez-Uriarte family. She is proud of being the youngest

 

30mm, Kindergarten, 58.
81Wolff, Kindergarten, 59.

82mm, Kingergarten, 59.
83Dauster, 6.

50

of the three characters and she tries to keep her youth by using a lot of makeup
and a blond wig.

Meche does not feel any blame for her past. She abandoned her seven-
year-old daughter when she fell in love with one of her lovers. Nevertheless,
she comes to seek her daughter, pretending that the girl was removed from her
arms by her father. Meche never recognizes her abandonment and never
explains why she spent so many years before trying to find her daughter.

The three characters of Kindergerten have the same characteristics: they
attempt to disguise their inner affliction by means of lies, in large doses. As
Frank Dauster observes: "These three suffer from the same itch of the flesh,
each In his or her own manner. All three are victims, battered by life. Of course,
their sins are another dimension of the family's decadence, but their
multivalence also makes them function on a purely human level."84

Kindergarten is a dark comedy, in which the three characters hide a
tragedy behind their humor.

 

84Dauster, 8.

51

Pager Flowers

Paper Flowers is an absurd (vertical) drama divided into six scenes.
Wolff tells the story of an ordinary woman -- Eva -- who invites the man who
helped her with some packages -- The Hake -- to stay a moment in her house
and have a cup of tea. Eva is a solitary widow and painter and The Hake is an
enigmatic beggar who has extraordinary talents. He tells Eva he has seen her

many times before, at the Botanical Garden, but Eva does not believe him:

EVA: The Botanical Garden? You saw me?

THE HAKE: You were behind the parrot's cage,
painting some clumps of laurel (He stares at her.)
You had on a light straw hat with a green ribbon.

And a kerchief with some scenes of Venice. 85

After Eva realizes The Hake is not lying, she decides to give him some
hot soup instead of the tea. They eat the soup together, and have a nice talk.
When the soup is finished, Eva asks The Hake to leave because she has to go
somewhere. The Hake persuades Eva to let him stay because somebody is
looking for him In order to kill him. Eva assents and leaves The Hake inside her
locked apartment. After she exits, The Hake shakes the cage of Eva's canary,
while he says: "Eat your little peaches! Eat, you shit! Eat, you fruity corsair! "86

Eva returns happy in the second scene: she has bought cheese and
salami for her guest. The Hake has been making a sea gull from newspaper.
She likes it very much and asks The Hake If he knows how to make flowers.

The Hake says he can make beautiful camellias. Then Eva realizes The Hake

 

85Egon Wolff, Wham. Margaret S. Peden. Columbia: University of Missoury Press, 1971. 13
86Wolff. W 22.

52

has cleaned the whole house except her room: "How could I go in there without
your permission?"37

The Hake tries to teach Eva to make flowers with the newspaper, while
he speaks about different uses for a newspaper :"The paper from newspaper
has a world of things to say. It takes whatever form you want to give it. It folds
submissively. It allows itself to be handled without resistance. It occupies very
little space in your pocket. And it is a faithful companion on winter nights. It
keeps you company tranquilly silently always ready, there It is, for any
use whatever."88

Eva is very curious about The Hake’s origin; she cannot believe he is a
simple beggar. She asks his name, but The Hake says he has no name;
therefore Eva decides to call him Bobby. When it is getting late, Eva invites The
Hake to spend the night in her living room.

In the third scene, Eva wakes up and realizes The Hake has cleaned up
the apartment. He has removed things from one place to another because he
did not like where they were. Then, The Hake prepares breakfast for both, and
speaks to Eva in French. Eva is curious again and asks The Hake where he
learned French. The Hake instead of answering, closes the curtains, turns on a
lamp, and throws the silhouette of figures on a magazine. Eva seems very
interested in the figures and tries to do the same.

Then, The Hake moves close to her and holds her hands. They look in
each other's eyes, and The Hake, confused, Opens the curtains. After that, Eva
says: "Bobby, there is no reason to be timid with me. (Laughs) I'm not going to
eat you, don't you know. (Agitated) After all, having spent the night here

together, gives us a right to a certain familiarity, don't you think?"89

 

87Woiii, Pear Home, 25.
88Want, Pear Floyyege, 31.
89mm. W 43.

53

After this scene the entire play progresses to Eva's total surrender to The
Hake, who torments and finally destroys her. At the end of Pager Flewere, Eva
collapses into silence and near autism, while The Hake becomes progressively
and violently quuacious, in a stunning and ritualized reversal of roles. He has
established himself in Eva's life as if he had a premeditated plan. The passing
of time and the plot of the play are realistic; however, the theme as well as the
two characters have obvious antecedents in Beckett, Pinter and Albee. The
conflict is not linear (horizontal) because one of the two forces -- The Hake --
does not play by conventional rules. He Is not the classical antagonist because
he neither finds any resistance in the protagonist nor shows any change at all.
The Hake abides outside the dramatic progression, and it is Eva alone who
experiences the corresponding change. As Frank Dauster observes: "One half
of the equation is not resolved, and the nullification of Eva does nothing to
illuminate the internal process of The Hake, nor why he exercises such a
powerful influence over her."90 Therefore, the protagonist -- Eva -- offers no
resistance to the stranger who humiliates and decimates her from the
beginning. There is no conflict between them. Eva is seduced by The Hake
and moved to her destruction without any confrontation.

Wollf says that in vertical structure It is not Important "what happens", but
"why it happens". In Pager Flewere the spectator is not too interested In what
will happen next, but why those things are occurring. Margaret Peden
observes: "What happens In Pager Flowere Is extremely simple at first view.
What is not simple Is why ..."91 Dauster seconds her interpretation, saying that
because "no credible reasons are offered for The Hake's behavior with regard

to Eva The spectator/reader is left ultimately to decide why."92

 

90Dauster, 2.
9‘ Peden, 6.
9ZDauster, 4.

54

Although Peger Flowers' characters come from two quite different social
levels, their social condition is not the basis for their conflict. The key to Eva's
character is her role as as a solitary female, rather than her role as a cultivated
woman. Her solitude and sexual frustration make Eva the perfect target for The
Hake. Perhaps Eva is single and only pretends she is a widow. In any case,
Eva is a woman who has no man, and who needs one: anyone. For Dauster,
Eva is "pathologically in need of subjugation; her pathetic flirting and
acceptance of The Hake's increasing savagery are examples of her
romanticized vision of him and her inability to realize his violence and
resentment, all which leads inevitably to her final degradation."93 Therefore
Eva is easily seduced by The Hake from the very start. The fact that The Hake
had paid attention to her before attracts her to him even more.

The Hake Is a beggar who begs for company to express his
destructiviness. As Diana Taylor observes: "The Hake's destruction of Eva is
seen in terms of his pathological incapacity to accept anything or anyone who is
more authentically creative than he."94

The Hake is attractive, powerful, penetrating, and Intelligent. He knows
well how to be with Eva in order to become indispensable. At the beginning of
the play, before the first scene, Wolff writes an explanation of The Hake's name:
"The Hake is a fish of the Chilean seacoast. It is long and thin-bodied, Its large,
acutenosed mouth set with sharp teeth. It hunts the deep waters of the Pacific
to feed its voracious appetite."95 Indeed, this explanation is an accurate
description of The Hake's personality and behavior. He is a representative of

violence; a victim, yet at the same time an agent, of dark forces.

 

93Dauster, 5.
94Dauster, 5.

95Wolff, Paar Flomrs, 10

55

The theme of Pager Flowere has many levels of interpretation. Some
critics think that The Hake's gradual decimation of Eva's world represents the
poor wreaking vengeance on the bourgeoisie. Others see the conflict as a
battle between sexes, with the man unconsciously determined to deny the
woman's right to her own identity. In other studies, the play is regarded as an
example of a destructive couple's relationship in which nobody grows, but one
destroys the other. Others interpret the play psychologically, where the two
characters represent inner, unconscious aspects of only one person. In this
perspective, the conflict springs from the fight between the instinct to live and
the Instinct to die.

Because Peger Flowers is an absurd (vertical) drama, the emphasis lies
in the situation and not In the story. In addition, the dramatic action is simple:
the progressive stripping away of a soul. Perhaps this simplicity is one of the

reasons for its multiple interpretations.

CONCLUSION

The past two decades have produced several fine Latin American
playwrights, the Chilean Egon Wolff being one of the most significant. Although
he is neither the most prolific nor the most avant-garde, Wolff is one of the most
serious talents of Hispanic dramatic art.

This study has described his professional career of more than thirty
years, in which the playwright has dealt with psychological themes as well as
social criticism. The success of some of his plays in different countries has
proved his ability to choose particular situations and make them accessible to
all kinds of audiences.

The study of Wolff's distinction between "vertical and horizontal theatre"
has opened a new way to approach non-realistic plays. The idea of a
centrifugal theatre which rotates and accelerates from the outside in gives an
additional understanding of the dramatic structure of antirealistic plays.

The analysis of Wolff's four major plays showed how the author has
experimented with various styles in order to achieve an authentic Chilean
expression. Some of Wolff's characters portray a living example of how people
can survive in undeveloped countries. Nevertheless, at the same time, others
show universal characteristics which can be found in many different cultures.

The Interviews with the playwright confirmed his kindness and frankness
in talking about himself and his plays.

This thesis is intended to present Wolff's plays to American students of

theatre. I strongly believe that they will identify themselves with Wolf's work

56

57

more than they will find important differences. As Frank Dauster observes:
“The conflicts at the heart of Wolff’s theater are not social or intellectual, but

human.” 96

 

96Dauster, 28.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bravo, Pedro. Le Drameturgle ge Egon Welff. Santiago: Editorial Nascimento,
1985.

Brockett, Oscar G. Centgry 91 Innovation. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1991.
HistoLy of the Theatre. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1987.
Dauster, Frank. The Theatre ef Egen Wolff: After The lnvecfle. Austin: U. Texas

P, 1976.
Docherty, Brian. Twentieth-Century Egremen Drame. New York: St. Martin's
Press, 1994.

Esslin, Martin. The Theatre ef the Absurd. London: Penguin Books, 1968.

Eyring, Jacqueline. Languege in/es Aetien in Egon Wolff'e Hableme de Legra.
Virginia: University of Virginia Press, 1989.

Hodgson, Terry. Modern Drame. London: B.T. Batsford, 1992.

Hurtado, Maria dela Luz. u' to So ial Pr Hi t ri nl Dr in t r ia
Chilena Aetgel. Santiago: Céneca, 1983.

Jacobus, Lee A. The flforg Intreggetion te Dreme, New York: St. Martin's
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Peden, Margaret. Kinder rt n: n nu v dr m e E on W lff. Santiago:
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The Theetre ef Egen Welff. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1976.
Three plays of Egon Wolff. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1969.

Stylan, J. L. Symgelism, Surreelieg arts! the Abegrg. Cambridge: Cambridge
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Szondl, Peter. Tth ef the Megern Dreme. Minneapolis: University of
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Vacarezza, Adriana. El M t d tani I w k n Flor
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58

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Wolff, Egon and Consuelo Morel. El Teetro Desde una Persgectice
Peieologica. Santiago: Universidad Catolica, 1991.

Wolff, Egon. Kingergarten. Santiago: Editorial Nascimento, 1978.
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---, egr Flowers. Trans. Margaret S. Peden. Columbia: University of
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Teetro Comgleto. Colorado: Society of Spanish and Spanish-American
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NICHIGRN STRTE UNIV. LIBRRRIES

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