Espacios liminales, fantasmas de la memoria e identidad en el teatro histórico contemporáneo

Abstract

Liminal spaces symbolize the transition between two different states. In this essay I propose a definition and description of these symbolic spaces in theatre, through the analysis of La tumba de Antígona, by María Zambrano; Le retour de Carola Neher, by Jorge Semprún; ¡Ay, Carmela!, by José Sanchis Sinisterra; and Los niños perdidos, by Laila Ripoll. The liminal spaces created in these dramas –tombs, cemeteries, abandoned places, stages– allow the ghosts of memory to be embodied in the scene. The audience is thus impelled to look into the past and to reassess collective identity through the duty to remember.