This article proposes a renewed analytical framework to examine contemporary Chilean theatrical works—Animales de trabajo,
Figura humana, and Volver al volcán—that navigate between the postmodern, the postdramatic, and the posthistorical. Departing
from a critique of the Effect/Affect model (Valenzuela, 2011), we suggest an interpretive matrix that allows for the mapping of what
we call “rebel theater” through six constitutive axes: (1) the tensions between Resonance/Acceleration, (2) the Interconnection of the
Sensory Framework (sound, visuals, and text), (3) the processes of Expanding-Flowing-Eroding established forms, (4) the Vibration
of Political Questioning, (5) the Transformations of Paradigms of Meaning, and (6) Resistances as Ecological Practices.While these
works do not yet constitute a radical theater in the strictest sense, analyzing their vibrations provides glimpses of a potential emerging
radicality within the South American context of the Anthropocene. Their particularity lies in how they oscillate between: a) the social
(as a space for collective practices), b) the labor-related (as an exploration of productive bodies), and c) the telluric (as a territorybody
link), generating resonances that exceed the frameworks of European postdramatism (Lehmann, 2013). This study does not aim
to prove the existence of a constituted radical theater, but rather to offer tools to measure potential degrees of radicality through
the analysis of their scenic vibrations. More than representing crises, these works produce resonances that interrogate neoliberal
conditions from the Chilean context, opening up questions about their possible evolution toward more radical forms of theater as a
social technology.
Valenzuela Valdés, S. (2025). On the verge of radical theater: scenic vibrations of a rebellious theater. Teatro, (13), pp. 211–234. https://doi.org/10.5354/0719-6490.2025.80537
