Staging the archive (until the body drops). A reading of the documentary features found in Esto (no) es una testamento [This is (not) a testament] and Animales invisibles [Invisible animals] by La Laura Palmer

Abstract

This article aims to carry out a documentary analysis of the scenic archival practices used in the plays This (is not) a testament and Invisible Animals y the Chilean company La Laura Palmer. Consequently, it investigates the operating conditions that manage and dismantle the archival logic proposed by the plays. It does so through a revaluation of the collection of records, objects, and testimonies that bring tension to the private and intimate memories of the subjects and the official discourse of memory. Artistic practices −from this perspective− become part of the archive that La Laura Palmer explores, revisiting some of the institutional spaces that have forged the History of the Chilean national theater scene; in this case, ICTUS theater company and the work of the technicians from the emblematic Chilean National Theater.