Reversing the Order and Commands of History. The Work of the Independent Mexican Theatre Company Puntos Suspensivos Teatro. Research and Creation on the student Movement of 1968 and the Estigmatization as State Strategy

Abstract

Through rigorous, sustained research, Puntos Suspensivos Teatro —an independent mexican theatre company of which I am a playwright—has challenged the dominant historical narrative about one of the leaders of the 1968 Student Movement: Sócrates Campos Lemus, my father. The stigmatisation of people involved in social struggles has often been a Mexican state strategy to silence key figures, especially before and during the “dirty war”. In response to narratives that silence and stigmatise victims, theatre —and art—can rescue these diverse stories from the rubble and make them heard. This text is a first-person account of how theatre, supported by anthropology, history, and philosophy, and through the interdisciplinary approach I call comprehensive research—a kind of phenomenological archaeology rooted in the sensuous and the loving—can confront calculated discrediting as the most effective form of censorship: that which does not seem to be censorship but legitimises itself beyond question. Theatre has enabled me to create devices—aesthetic, ethical, and poetic strategies—to repair (in) the world. This quest defines my current artistic and research practice and serves as the basis for the work by Puntos Suspensivos Teatro.