Abstract

The term “normalization” is typically employed within Catalan political and linguistic circles to refer to the process of recuperation, revival, and relegitimization of Catalan cultural and intellectual life that ensued following the period of the Franco dictatorship (1939-1975). Here, to be “normal” is to move from the periphery to the centre, to be regarded as valid rather than illicit, and to be visible and vociferous—even obvious and everyday—instead of obstructed, silenced, or relegated to the margins of exile, the recesses of memory, or the darkness of invisibility. The path along which the contemporary Catalan theatre scene has struggled to recover and reconstitute the professional legitimacy and visibility that it lost during the dictatorship has been a complex and polemical process, for there would be concerns with regard to the distribution of public subventions for the theatre, the diminished support for the figure of the playwright or author (in favour of the director), and the privileging of image based performance over text-based drama.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-2013

Publisher Statement

Copyright © 2013 Akshar Wangmay. This article first appeared in Akshar Wangmay, March 2013, 313-24.

Please note that downloads of the article are for private/personal use only.

Share

COinS