Metatheatre as Ideology in Fermín Cabal's "Ello dispara"

Originally presented at the Twentieth-Century Literature Conference, Univ. of Louisville (KY), 20-22 February 1997.

Metatheatre as Ideology in Fermín Cabal's Ello dispara
Jeffrey Bruner, West Virginia University

Fermín Cabal is widely recognized as one of the leaders of contemporary Spanish theatre. In the years immediately following the death of Franco, the works of Cabal, along with those of José Alonso de Santos, Sebastián Junyent, and Paloma Pedrero, brought much needed innovations to the stage, which had long been dominated by the bourgeois pieza bien hecha. The major alternative to traditional theatre was the highly literary or cerebral experimental theatre, which appealed only to a select audience, but in the early eighties Cabal and his contemporaries introduced a new alternative; Iride Lamartina-Lens has commented that "estos dramaturgos se concentran en asuntos actuales y apremiantes relacionados con el sexo, las drogas y las subculturas marginales; repudian los parámetros tradicionales de clase, género y sexualidad; reemplazan el lenguaje formal y literario con una jerga callejera popular y viva" (211). Cabal's works, in particular, are characterized by their cinematic and hyperrealistic treatment of the problems of contemporary Spain, most frequently from the perspective of the marginalized; Caballito del diablo (1983), for example, depicts the lives (and deaths) of young cocaine addicts as a means of creating a larger portrait of Spain as a "sociedad en transición y en crisis espiritual y social" (Lamartina-Lens 212).

If during the eighties Cabal was representative of the new direction of Spanish theatre, in the nineties he has become, willingly or no, part of the theatre establishment. This is not to say that his more recent works are simply piezas bien hechas, for Cabal continues to critique Spanish society through the hyperrealistic depiction of a sector within that society; but rather than focusing on marginalized groups, Cabal seems now to confront the "establishment" itself. Travesía (1993) reflects the spiritual crisis of a young up-and-coming middle class without ideals, and Castillos en el aire (1995) focuses on a group of political leaders without morals. Perhaps the best example of this trend is Ello dispara (1990), which addresses a veritable crisis de conciencia for contemporary Spain: the use of terrorism by a democratic state to combat apparently "evil elements" within the country. In this case, the play centers around a group of government agents in the process of spying electronically on an Arab businessman (Abdul Fuyad), described as "uno de los principales comerciantes a través de los que la industria española ha exportado grandes contingentes de armas al Tercer Mundo" (168), whom they intend to assassinate for unknown reasons.

In contrast to Cabal's usual critical and box-office success, Ello dispara was little seen and widely criticized; indeed, the fact that it was staged "en la carpa del Teatro Español de Madrid" (144) can be interpreted as an portent of its critical reception. In his prologue to the published text (1991), Cabal paraphrases some of the critics who have said that the play is

ambiguo, vacuo; que el autor no llega al fondo ni por las claras ni por las oscuras; que es más bien un guión cinematográfico, o un serial televiso, o un docudrama, o un pastiche del subgénero policiaco; que el autor renuncia a . . . la palabra coherente, que se limita a mostrar lo externo de una pavorosa oquedad moral; que la trama es fragmentaria. . . . (8)

The harshness of the criticism may be due to the fact that Cabal's dramatic "exposé" of corruption in the Spanish government hits too close to home, for it also implies that the public is an accomplice of state-sponsored terrorism, although in the six years since Ello dispara debuted (that is, in the retrospective light of the caso GAL), both critics and public have been made acutely aware of the play's appropriateness.

We should not, of course, let the criticisms of Ello dispara obscure the significance of the play, nor should we conclude that its significance lies solely in its politics. Rather, Ello dispara is one of Cabal's best works, and according to Sharon G. Feldman, the play is a perfect example of postmodern theatre, as evidenced in particular through the use of pastiche:

. . . la obra de Cabal no es una configuración autónoma y única (a la manera modernista), sino que su creación está arraigada en una estética de citación y montaje en la cual se recurre a otras obras culturales para crear una obra nueva. (234-35)

In true postmodern fashion, the "obras culturales" within the play are drawn predominantly from the visual transmission of mass communication, namely television and film. Feldman has pointed out that the inclusion of such texts within Ello dispara creates "un nuevo marco representacional dentro del espacio de la obra, una especie de mise en abyme de la metacomunicación. . ." (Feldman 235), in other words, metatheatre. Throught this play Cabal utilizes metatheatre as an aesthetic device while at the same time loading it with a clear ideological charge.

The most obvious metatheatrical device in Ello dispara is, of course, the play-within-a-play structure, although Cabal alters the tradition in places by using television. The agents watch a variety of shows--at one point the stage directions note: "El programa que haya" (161)--including "el discurso del presidente del gobierno sobre el estado de la nación" (157) and a video of Almodóvar's Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios. In each case, the characters become spectators within the world of the play, and the "real" audience is subjected to a kind of schizophrenia in that not only do they watch the characters watching television, but they can themselves watch the television. In this way, the audience is not only associated with the characters through their shared condition as televidentes but is also subtly drawn into the world within the play. This dimension is enhanced by don Julio's reference to the presidente del gobierno as one of the group's "superiores" (157), as he is (at least nominally) of all Spanish nationals; moreover, don Julio directly implicates the government of in his group's mission.

Similarly, the video serves as an ironic form of self-referentiality, for it calls attention to the issues of terrorism and arabophobia which lie at the heart of Ello dispara; any audience is likely to recall that among the many subplots in Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios is the search for a band of Shiite terrorists. The reference is ironic because here Cabal inverts the roles somewhat. The Spaniards are here the terrorists, and the Arab Fuyad is the victim. Fuyad is certainly not entirely innocent, but he is entirely human (in contrast to the dehumanized, mechanical behavior of the agents); this is best evidenced through the tapped telephone conversation between Fuyad, his wife, and young son, which reveals him as a gentle family man.

Another level of metatheatre can be found within the group of goverment agents, whose behavior constantly calls attention to their function as "actors." Each one has a specific assignment (that is, a role to play) in the covert mission: don Julio is the leader (and interrogator); Menéndez taps Fuyad's telephone; Lorena interprets the Fuyad's conversations from Arabic to Spanish; and Ramón, who is new to the group, is the gunman. Throughout the play certain characters allude to the literary or theatrical nature of their work; for example, Lorena speaks of the use of two-way mirrors, "como en las películas" (153), in police interrogations (153), a subject which don Julio mentions repeatedly. In another brief but striking scene, don Julio paints blood on Lorena's bare chest and takes a polaroid picture: "Es el cadáver de una turista," he remarks, and Lorena replies, "Coartada perfecta" (153). The snapshot becomes a symbol for the work of this group, for it is not a depiction of any reality (that is, there is no dead turist); it is a simulacrum, a form for which no original exists. In the same way, the mission to cargar a Fuyad based on the perceived threat from an enemy who does not exist in objective form.

At the end of Ello dispara the mission itself becomes a play within the play. Lorena will disguises herself as a prostitute to gain access to Fuyad's hotel room, and moments later Ramón, posing as someone from room service, will enter and kill Fuyad. The characters briefly practice their roles beforehand, with don Julio playing the part of Fuyad. The performance does not go so well, however, for when Lorena enters the hotel room, she finds Ramón disguised as Fuyad. He is detained by the group and reveals that he had been bribed by Fuyad; in an effort to escape, Ramón is killed. Moreover, the television news reveals later Ramón's identity as Aureliano García Sánchez, a "suboficial del ejército" (168). Given the number of roles that the characters have adopted throughout the play, it is impossible for the audience to accept the news report as accurate, and Ramón/Aureliano becomes yet another simulacrum.

Up to this point, Cabal's use of metatheatrical devices has served largely to expose the both the tools and nature of such "anti"-terrorist groups; they are an ideological construct built upon the falsehoods (also known as "official story") and prejudice. In this sense, the democratic government of Spain is not so unlike its predecessor, the Franco regime, which used violence (covert and overt) to squelch its enemies. In fact, at one moment in the play Menéndez whistles "Cara al sol," the Francoist anthem.

At the end of Ello dispara, however, Cabal uses another device to incriminate the audience as the character Fina (don Julio's wife) steps through the invisible "fourth wall" of the theatre and speaks directly to the audience. Fina has throughout been an odd character, for in the midst of the apparently rarified atmosphere of the play, she carries out here domestic rituals of serving breakfast and clean house. In the final scene, she identifies herself with the audience:

Estás aquí. / Sabes que estás aquí, / que no hay remedio, que nadie llegará / para sacarte del espejo. [. . .] . . . la luz que ilumina esta casa / que es tu casa y tu cuerpo / y el cuerpo de tu alma / y es también el decorado de un teatro / donde se representa / el espacio vacío de tu tristeza. / [. . .] / Y te observas como si llegaras de fuera / como si fueras turista de ti misma / como si fueras idiota / y no supieras saber todo lo que sabes. / Porque estás sabiendo cosas. / Sabes cosas. / Pero no adónde vas. (169-70)

By extension, Fina is an image of Spain speaking to "herself" (which seems to explain the use of femenine adjectives). Cabal denounces the complacency of the nation, for in spite of the secrecy under which groups like the GAL operate, their existence is known and tolerated.

In Ello dispara Cabal carefully combines metatheatrical elements and ideology into a cogent whole, so that the play's significance does not reside wholly in the "timeliness" of its message (which most often condemns plays to oblivion), nor is it a mere exercise in self-referentiality. I would venture to argue that this Ello dispara will become one of Cabal's most significant contributions to Spanish theatre; it is certainly one of the fullest expressions of his concern for a country in the throes of a spiritual and social transition. Nevertheless, I don't think it likely that Ello dispara will ever become widely popular. It is an aggressive and challenging play, and to my mind the greatest challenge resides in Cabal's refusal to propose any answers to the problems he has depicted; that is a task left to the audience.

Works Cited

Cabal, Fermín. Castillos en el aire, Travesía, Ello dispara. Madrid: Fundamentos, 1995.

---. Prólogo. Ello dispara. Madrid: Marsó-Velasco, 1991.

Feldman, Sharon G. "Ello dispara de Fermín Cabal: hacia una configuración posmoderna del espacio textual/teatral." De lo particular a lo universal: el teatro español del siglo XX y su contexto. Ed. John P. Gabriele. Frankfurt am Main: Vervuert Verlag, 1994. 230-39.

Lamartina-Lens, Iride. "Sexo, drogas y rock y roll: un estudio sobre la disidencia cultural en el teatro español contemporáneo." De lo particular a lo universal: el teatro español del siglo XX y su contexto. Ed. John P. Gabriele. Frankfurt am Main: Vervuert Verlag, 1994. 211-17.

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