Theatre of War: Lola Arias’ Documentary Theatre as Innovative Tool for Historical Dialogue

Abstract

The work of internationally renowned playwright Lola Arias explores the limits of historical representation working on the idea of “remaking” troubled pasts with the participation of their real protagonists. In her film Theatre of War former soldiers from Argentina and UK who participated in the Falkland-Malvinas war (1982) represent their past experience in the war and interpret their own roles in that violent conflict through a fascinating and intriguing dialogical experience. In line with the latest studies on historical culture, conflict‚ and history education, this chapter will analyse the potential of this cultural production in promoting multiperspectivity, historical dialogue and social understanding through its key aspects: (a) Substantive contestation of official narratives about historical events, usually nationalist and/or imperialist, by contrasting them with historically silenced voices; (b) a fundamentally dialogical approach to these new narratives, that provides a space for empathy which does not simplify existing conflicts; and (c) the mediation of a wide variety of historical resources that reinforce the denaturalization of historical accounts, making possible a horizon of new critical elaborations on the past.