From home to the stage: violence against women and mental health in theater. (Consequences of Gender Violence).

"We women are today the protagonists of a change which is as positive as it is necessary, with the true hope of facing the future with optimism? This expression of faith in the future closes Scene 1 of Mujeres Fraguando Suenos by the playwright Francisco "Pati" Domenech. Despite the harshness of the topic with which we are dealing, this paper intends to send a message of hope to the reader. In the century that has just begun, culture--and especially drama--can be a tool in the struggle against the violence suffered by women under the patriarchal yoke.

As in so many other areas, women only recently have had access to theater. We known of very few women playwrights before the 20th century. And on in its most public side--performance--who can remember the name of even one woman director? The stage has traditionally been a male preserve; when the curtains go up we witness the development and defense of the themes and interests of men. Conservative academics attribute all the "classics" to men; masterpieces, as the word itself shows, are signed only by those who wear trousers by their own right. Women wanting to dedicate themselves to theater have found themselves pushed off stage and into the wings. As Sue-Ellen Case affirms, the theoretical side of feminist drama has been among the most recent aspects to be introduced into the university curriculum (Case, 1990).

In this regard, the work of the feminist movement has been essential in compensating for the silence imposed on women on stage. The movement has influenced all the new currents of thought that perceive women as subjects in all areas of study and has made invaluable contributions by turning a spotlight on women playwrights, actors and producers, both on- and off-stage. Following the strong wave of women's liberation movements at the end of the 1960s, theorists like Elaine Aston in the U.S. or Helene Cixous in France have vindicated the female voice in the public forum of the theater.

Consequently, the female experience has been incorporated into the cultural heritage of developed countries throughout the world. Dramatic literature has followed the three steps proposed by Gayle Austin in Feminist Theories for Dramatic Criticism: 1) Examining and deconstructing images of women in the classics; 2) Broadening the concept of "canon" to include women writers; 3) Questioning dramatic theory and practice in general - the stage we are in now. In this third step we ask: What is theater? What constitutes a valid play? Is it possible to construct an alternative current of feminist theater to deal with the topics that interest today's women? (Austin, 1990)

Violence is undoubtedly a topic of interest for contemporary women. According to Europa Press (2000), 60 million women around the world suffer some kind of abuse, that makes 60 million reasons for the feminist schools of thought to incorporate the issue into their agendas. Feminist professionals in the fields of law, psychology and sociology have begun to analyze the phenomenon of violence against women in all its manifestations. Art, as a product of our societies, cannot ignore the reality of so many millions of human beings. We may call it "gender violence," "domestic violence," "family violence," "domestic terrorism," etc., but whatever the name, the violent experience of so many women of different races, nationalities and classes at the hands of their partners is a key issue in their understanding of the world.

The risk of violence seems to lie in wait for women behind every corner. From childhood we are educated and socialized to be fearful of strangers, darkness and unknown territories. However, statistics show that the biggest threat for most women is within their own homes, among those who should love and respect them as equals. According to data gathered by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence in the U.S. (2000), battering by partners, husbands or ex-husbands is the first cause of death for women in developed countries.

According to Spanish forensic specialist Dr. Miguel Lorente, gender violence--any abuse committed against a woman just because she is a woman--is the third cause of loss of years of healthy life (on the DALY scale) worldwide, following diabetes and problems related to childbirth, which are more common in developing countries. (2)

But the effects of domestic violence (3) are not only evident in death certificates or in medical reports of physical injuries. Abuse leaves psychological scars that can outlast the visible injuries, and these "invisible" consequences become a new focus point for the experts.

There are several theories exploring the psychological dynamics of domestic violence, the most outstanding of which is that of U.S. scholar Lenore Walker. After studying women victims of violence for many years, Walker formulated the theory of the "Cycle of Violence." This theory explains the issue of battering as a spiral of hostility in which the couple goes through three stages: 1) The Tension-building Phase, when arguments and perhaps verbal abuse begin; 2) The Violent Explosion Phase: the typical scenario of beatings, screaming and other sorts of physical and psychological abuse; and 3) The Honeymoon Phase, when the aggressor claims he regrets what he has done, begs for forgiveness--and often gets it. Peace seems to reign in the home again, and the victim gets a break (Lalia, 2000).

The main problem with these situations, Walker says, is that the Honeymoon Phase tends to grow increasingly short and eventually disappear, leaving the victim with just the beatings, psychological abuse and sometimes sexual violence as well. It is at this point when the situation becomes particularly dangerous for the woman's health, especially her mental well-being. Battered women's mental health often suffers even more than their bodies, and depression, addictions and an uncontrollable feeling of fear are common. Their behavior may appear bizarre to the outsider, and they may be labeled as mentally ill.

Batterers usually share a personality trait shocking for those who eventually discover their domestic reality: they tend to be perfectly normal people. Some of them are extremely nice men in public; real charmers who make it hard to believe that they can stoop to the depths of violence and brutality of which they are accused. The man who abuses his partner physically--and especially psychologically--is, in the term used by Marie-France Hirigoyen, a "perverse" person who can make his victim look responsible for the situation. Through their subtle manipulation, batterers cause irrational fear in their victims, who feel obliged to hide what is happening, frightened of the public embarrassment and private reprisals. Thus, they pay a double price for the "crime" of having chosen the wrong partner. As Hirigoyen explains:

   The victim, as such, is innocent of
   the crime for which she will pay.
   However, she looks suspicious even
   to those who witness the abuse. It
   all happens as if the victim could not
   be innocent. People think that the
   victim tacitly consents, or that she
   is an accomplice, consciously or not,
   of the aggression she suffers
   (Hirigoyen, 2000). (4)

In this process in which the victim is doubted and the aggressor believed, in which the solid evidence of the injuries obscures the invisible psychological damage, the myth of female masochism is at work. In the popular culture of our societies, this same belief is responsible for the image of the self-sacrificing wife ready to suffer any humiliation for love and even enjoying it. Walker has called the learned mechanisms of helplessness that seem to function in the victim's mind the "battered woman syndrome," a variant of post-traumatic stress disorder. From her extensive research, Walker has deduced that the behavior seen as abnormal in abused women should be understood as a perfectly logical response to the pressure they are under. The supposed signs of insanity are actually defense mechanisms operating in the victim's mind to keep her sane, even though the outsider might see them as suspiciously passive or unacceptably violent.

This link between violence against women and mental health is one of the topics explored in feminist theater. Since the Brontes, (5) "hysterical" women have been part of the female literary tradition, and female playwrights have managed to deconstruct these figures and adapt them to the reality of the victims of patriarchal violence. They are women who seem to go crazy, who act insane in the eyes of men. Yet, seen from a feminist perspective, they are merely reacting to the abuse of their male antagonists. Those who raise their voice against their husbands' insults are called hysterics; those who confront men as equals are called madwomen; those who respond in the same terms, sometimes killing their assailants, are deemed as abnormal.

Apparently, violence is a male domain, and madness is a female territory. If a man is mentally ill, his problem tends to be blamed on a serious trauma such as having fought in a war; (6) if a woman behaves in a deviant manner (read: unacceptable to the system), there is no need to look further than her femaleness, governed by biology, to find a cause. After all, hysteria comes from the Greek word for uterus.

However, politically-active female artists--and some feminist men--have taken the side of the victims and given them the voice they had lost to the patriarchal discourse by attempting to show on stage that if a woman goes crazy, there must be a reason. The perception of violence as a social and health problem was taken up by women playwrights during the 20th century. Theaters have become forums for public expression and debate on a problem that was kept hidden in private sphere, where judges and the police had neither the right nor the responsibility to intrude. The dramatic arts have helped draw attention to this problem, and make it a matter of government concern in many countries. (7)

The United States provides an example of feminism's influence on the treatment of domestic violence. U.S. playwrights like Susan Glaspell (1876-1948) or Sophie Treadwell (1885-1970), who dared to introduce the topic in the first half of the 20th century, were shunted aside in favor of the "masters" who created productions more politically correct for their times. Thus, plays like Trifles (Glaspell, 1916) and Machinal (Treadwell, 1928), whose leading characters are two battered women who finally kill their batterers and are judged as madwomen, were eliminated from the university curriculum and not performed again until the 1990s, when feminist critics vindicated their role in U.S. theater history.

Perhaps to sidestep defensive fears, some contemporary playwrights resort to techniques of alienation and avoid pure imitation of reality, reducing the risk of direct identification between character and audience. One example of the latter method is found in Cuban-American playwright Maria Irene Fornes (Havana, 1930). Like other authors who openly deal with the issue of domestic violence, Fornes' productions have not joined the commercial mainstream circuits and are not huge box office successes, like her male colleagues' Broadway hits. This can be read as evidence that feminist theater is essentially political and generates tension within a socio-cultural system still based on patriarchal criteria.

Fortunately, though, those women and men who fight for a fair world with their art do not surrender, rather in the shadow of the big names, they continue to work against the basic human rights violation of domestic violence. Turning to Spain, in contemporary works that follow the recent wave of media coverage of domestic violence, we find some signs of hope. We will focus first on a very well-known feminist author, Lidia Falcon, and then move into the splendid work of Pati Domenech, male playwright of the Abrego theater company who is concerned about equality.

Two pieces in the anthology of short plays by Lidia Falcon published by John Gabriele in 1997 present compelling possibilities for theater as a forum against violence: [??]No moleste, calle y pague, Senora! (Don't Give Us Any Trouble, Shut Up and Pay, Lady!) and Tu unico amor (Your Only Love). According to the author herself (Gabriele, 1997), the first is a blatant parody; the second has a more tragic tone. Both offer a critical perspective on a reality that affects millions of women around the world. Falcon's texts are not designed to become "classics," in the most trite sense of the term, but rather the basis for a Brechtian sort of drama that presents the audience with a "female epic," (8) the struggle of:

   [M]illions of anonymous women
   who bear the weight of the world,
   giving birth, cleaning houses, working
   in the fields, in offices, in hospitals
   ... without being mentioned in
   books or having their names engraved
   on commemorative plaques.
   The mothers, the daughters, the
   wives, the ones who undergo abortions,
   the one take up political
   struggles, the ones who are battered
   and killed ... they will all have
   a place on my stage.

   (Falcon, cited in Gabriele, 1997, emphasis
   added) (9)

In this sense, [??]No moleste, calle y pague, Senora! constitutes a bitter parody of the institutional response to women's problems. The three protagonists of the play try to communicate with the representatives of the most terrible side of patriarchy: a police inspector, a lawyer and a psychiatrist, three key positions in the struggle against domestic violence. Not only do these voices of authority ignore the women, but they scold them for their attitude and blame them for their own problems: the double victimization denounced by domestic violence specialists. The Cuaderno de Salud XII published by the Spanish Women's Institute reminds us that "violence is surrounded by prejudice which condemns the woman from the outset and justifies the violent man ... The absence of a sympathetic response increases the feelings of loneliness, depression, isolation and impotence" (1999). (10) Perhaps the following dialogue from Scene 1--the scene most directly related to battering--highlights this nebulous side of the institutions, which can have such a tremendous effect on the physical and psychological well-being of the victim:

MAGDA.--My husband hit me ...

(The inspector stares at her. He drops the toothpick and leans on his table to look at her.)

INSPECTOR.--So what?

MAGDA.--I would like to file an accusation.

INSPECTOR.--(Angry) Accusation! Is this possible?! Don't you have anything better to do than coming here to file an accusation because your husband has beaten you, on Sunday evening, when the football game is on? (Falcon, in Gabriele, 1997) (11)

An initial, non-committed reading may provoke a smile, but a more profound reflection on the text reveals the cruelty faced by those who risk their lives to denounce domestic violence. Even though these attitudes are beginning to be acknowledged by some media in Spain, (12) the myth of female masochism and the belief that domestic quarrels should not be made public are still strong. Falcon not only puts a spotlight on violence in her play, she goes further in order to prevent the audience from being mere voyeurs. She creates a space for reflection that can lead to political action. Reality is not held up like a mirror; it is thrown in the faces of the audience in a provocative act.

Falcon's faith in the possibility of change allows her to portray despicable but true realities on stage, such as the absurd reaction of the police inspector, who insists on wielding power over the victim:

MAGDA.--He says he doesn't love me any more, he's not attracted to me. He says that the children and I bother him, that we make too much noise and he can't hear the game.

(The Inspector jumps upon hearing this and pulls a frightening face.)

INSPECTOR.--And is that true?

(Magda looks at him, scared, and answers without understanding.)

MAGDA.--We ... well, sometimes, of course ... The children are little ... They play and scream, and I can't ... (The rest of the sentence is unheard)

(Magda continues talking, unheard. The radio is very loud, screaming from the stadium can be heard.)

INSPECTOR.--(Shouting, very angry) And you still want to accuse him! The poor man, tired after work, comes home to enjoy the simple pleasure of a football game, and the finals, too, against Real Madrid in their own stadium! And he finds a crying wife and a bunch of screaming brats who won't let him listen peacefully ... That's enough reason to kill you all! He's really done very little to you! (13)

His scolding has an immediate effect: the woman bursts into tears. The policeman continues listening to the radio, ignoring her, until one of his officers accidentally bumps into her. When the inspector hears her cry of pain--evidence of the physical injuries that Falcon does not make explicit --he launches his final attack: "And your poor husband, exhausted from working, not allowed to enjoy the game ... (He waves a gesture of pardon while he points to the door.) There, go! Go now, and I will excuse you this time! But don't do it again" (14) Thus the scene concludes: the battering was justified, don't you dare report him next time. The patriarchal web of fraternity is impossible to break for a woman alone: pessimism or realism?

The male protagonists of Tu Onico Amor also are batterers, and the woman again is beaten by the system as well. Lidia Falcon confronts her audience with another harsh critique of social rules and educational norms, rules that perpetuate power hierarchies, victimize women and teach men to act with impunity. We witness the evolution of Isabel through six scenes as she faces the consequences of a sexist heritage that allows violence to recur in her relationships with her father, husband and son. In a typical middle-class home, Isabel appears as a young woman in love who brings her boyfriend home to introduce him to her father:

FATHER.--(... Nearly shouting and making menacing gestures) But what were you thinking!? Getting married! Boyfriend! To hell with today's daughters! Shameless! Coming into my house when I'm not home. With a rascal like this ... with God knows what intention! Get out of here, you understand? And I don't want to see you in my house again! (He turns to Isabel, raising his hand as if to hit her.) And don't you dare bring another man to my house because I'll beat you black and blue! This is a decent house, you understand? And in this house, my word is law, and that's that! You are to stay at home looking after me, that's what you have to do! While I pay the bills, you will do what I want! (15)

The father imposes his authority over his powerless daughter through economic means. Economic dependence seriously limits battered women and undermines their self-esteem. As a daughter, Isabel has no say in the home but is doomed to remain until her father releases her. Clearly, the concept of the exchange of women developed by anthropologist Gayle Rubin (1975) is still applicable in some societies. According to this system, women are mere objects of negotiation between the father and the future husband or other men over a number of benefits (material gain through dowry, social prestige, etc.). Women are reduced to non-thinking objects, as Falcon demonstrates. Once she is free from the paternal yoke, Isabel runs into the wall of her husband who repeats the spiral of violence:

ISABEL.--(conciliatory) ... Our son was telling me that his girlfriend is very nice and that once you've met her ...

HUSBAND.--(shouting) lam not going to meet anyone! And you, quit playing go-between, you understand? And don't you dare disobey me if you don't want to end up black and blue ... (he approaches Isabel in a menacing attitude. She retreats. He raises his hand to hit her ...).! (16)

The conjugal home becomes a second prison for many women already traumatized by abuse during childhood and adolescence. As the play shows, the figure of the husband substitutes for the abusive father. Later, she may face an abusive son. As we see in the play, Isabel's son rejects his mother's new lover and perpetuates her victimization:

ISABEL.--(coming between the two men, overcoming her fear) He is my lover ... we love each other ... (She lowers her voice when she sees her son's surprised and violent gesture) and we want to move in together ...

SON.--(He turns to her frowning and with a menacing expression) What? What are you talking about? At your age? Are you crazy?! I've kept you in my house, looked after you all these years, and now ... you leave, not even saying thank you! (He approaches her menacingly) You are a whore! A whore, that's what! And you should be ... (He raises his hand to strike her. Isabel retreats, scared). (17)

The speeches of the three male characters in Falcon's work could be switched, and the effect would be the same. Whoever reads the text or watches the production cannot remain unmoved by the repetition of the drama, the woman's suffering, the fear and the tension present in the abusive home. The emphasis on reiteration, the harshness of the scenes and the inevitability of the violent ending leave no options: sympathy with Isabel, or at least a reaction to the men's brutality, are nearly guaranteed. The playhouse can be transformed into a consciousness-raising forum, imitating the meetings of the pioneer feminists in the U.K. and the U.S. In Spain, consciousness-raising also takes place on stage.

But it is not only the direct vision of physical and psychological violence that provokes reactions in the audience. Certain playwrights prefer a more symbolic performance. They construct a meaningful discourse that portrays abuse without showing the blood and the tears. This is the style employed by Pati Domenech, in his treatment of domestic violence, Mujeres Fraguando Suenos (Women Forging Dreams, 2000), now on tour.

Mujeres Fraguando Suenos is an homage to all the lives destroyed by violence resulting from relationships which could have been respectful and loving (Domenech, 2000). (18) As the playwright explains, the show is structured as a journalistic report, and it mixes music and dance with the performance of three women who portray the violent realities of women around the world. The play is remarkable for its incorporation of a global perspective through individual narratives by radio broadcasters. No variant of the phenomenon of violence against women is left out, from the so-called First World to the developing countries.

Domenech presents the story of Maria Teresa Macias, a Mexican immigrant killed by her husband in the U.S.; the forced prostitution of girls in Bangkok; the mass rapes of women in the former Yugoslavia; the repression implicit in the Taliban veil ... all accompanied by violins, poetry by Neruda, songs by Paco Ibanez, flamenco and verse by Benedetti--art in all its splendor at the service of an "ethically committed performance," as the play's brochure reads. The audience in Mujeres Fraguando Suenos will not have to look away from bloodshed on stage, but they will have to face their own conscience in an exercise of silent reflection. The media have already acknowledged the value of this piece as political theater, and the company is satisfied with the reaction of the audiences, especially the non-academic public. (19) Brecht would approve.

As we have seen with Falcon's work, Domenech's play touches upon key issues within the problem of domestic violence, such as power and sexist education. In Scene 1, we read: "The many reports of violence suffered by women at the hands of the men who say they love them make it clear that this is a war of one sex against the other ... and that it is a war initiated and perpetuated by the disproportionate power granted by societies to men" (emphasis added). (20) And in Scene 4, after reviewing the ideas about women promulgated by classic authors, such as Aristotle, one of the performers, Maria Vidal, presents the female image promoted by Franco's dictatorship:

   Going through the magazines from
   those days, we can find pearls such
   as these: ... `There is nothing nicer
   than serving' (Paz gets up suddenly
   and dances a short, very Spanish
   "taconeo" ...) The true mission of
   women is to give children to their
   country ... and we are even more
   gratified by this security of serving
   silently in the home: daughter, wife,
   woman, it is our duty to give without
   limit or reward. (emphasis
   added) (21)

Again, the author does not merely reflect the violent reality but searches for its origins and punctuates them. The discourse of the dictatorship is stressed by Paz Diaz's taconeo in an example of the efficacy of the interdisciplinary approach which is so characteristic of feminist theater. The use of materials from the press, Internet, etc. are further examples of the intertextuality of the play. Instrumental music and song linked to the script are a constant presence; silences and non-verbal language complement and strengthen the text.

Domenech manages to create a multicolored picture which abandons the tragic tones of gray for a rainbow of voices shouting for their rights, throwing their truths at the audience. Mujeres Fraguando Suenos is not a realistic play with a closed ending; it is a narrative quilt made of patches of reality sewn together to propose a question: Now that I know what's going on and why it happens, what am I going to do about it?

The most powerful episode is probably the monologue accompanied by the popular song "[??]Que injusticia, Senor!" (What an Injustice, Sid) Statistics, causes, physical and psychological effects of the violence, images of women, cultural stereotypes have already been examined ... and now the play shares the testimony of someone who has been silenced, of a victim who has managed to survive and is now facing her most serious problem: her body has healed, but she must still deal with the battered woman syndrome:

   I don't know why I put up with it for
   so long. I should have left long ago,
   I know ... I thought the children
   needed a father, after all, but now I
   see that to have a father like that ...
   what would I have done with four
   children and nowhere to go ...? My
   morale was destroyed, because after
   all, what can I do to earn a living?
   (Maria sticks the first knife in
   the table/Paz dances). And this
   loneliness--I was always afraid of
   loneliness, alone with him, alone
   without him ... I did think of leaving
   him sometimes, especially when I
   had to stay home for days so that
   nobody would see the bruises. But
   I wasn't strong enough, I thought
   about what people would say ... that
   he must have his reasons, that I
   didn't look after him properly, that I
   was a bad mother ... they would put
   the blame on me (Maria sticks the
   second knife in the table, Paz
   dances). I was afraid of him, I was
   paralyzed with fear ... every time I
   saw him coming home looking
   weird, with that scary look I knew
   so well, I felt horribly weak. I knew
   exactly what was going to happen,
   and I couldn't do anything to prevent
   it ... Many times I thought I deserved
   it, that I was the one to
   blame ... I felt sorry, sorry for myself
   and the children ... sometimes I
   even felt sorry for him ... He was like
   a child. After beating me up, he regretted
   it. He used to promise me
   he'd change ... and I was a fool. I
   always believed him ... But the bastard
   beat me up again and again for
   no reason, harder and harder, angrier
   every time. (Maria sticks the
   third knife in the table, Paz dances)
   It took me a long time to speak up, I
   was so ashamed! But I finally
   couldn't stand it any more. I was dying
   ... I am happy to be rid of him.
   He should pay for everything he's
   done to us ... Maybe some day I'll
   be happy again. (22)

Although violence is present in our lives and an all-too-palpable reality for millions of women, although there have been too many deaths, every day we study, discuss and denounce domestic violence more. Women and men from all fields of public life are incorporating actions against violence into their agendas. The topic has even reached the stage. The victims can now see a ray of light at the end of the tunnel. If every human being who sees Paz dancing, every person who claps at the end of Tu Unico Amor, stops, reflects and makes a minimal gesture in favor of the victims and against the causes and consequences of domestic violence, we will be on the path for change--the change which is as positive as it is necessary.

Notes

(1.) Original: "Las mujeres somos hoy protagonistas de un cambio tan positivo como necesario, con la esperanza cierta de encarar el futuro con optimismo." Ed. note: To facilitate the readability of this article, the author's translations have been set in the text. The originals are included here.

(2.) The data on the DALY (disability-adjusted life years) scale were presented by Dr. Lorente during the Interdisciplinary Conference "Violence and Gender" at the Universidad de Malaga (Spain), in November 2000.

(3.) I use "domestic violence" because it is the most widely-used expression both in and outside of the academic world. This phrase does not mean to imply that violence against women is a "domestic" issue that should not be made public.

(4.) Original: "La victima, en tanto que victima, es inocente por el crimen por el que va a pagar. Sin embargo, resulta sospechosa para los testigos de la agresion. Todo ocurre como si una victima no pudiera ser inocente. La gente se imagina que la victima consiente tacitamente o que es complice, conscientemente o no, de la agresion que recibe."

(5.) Gilbert and Gubar's The Madwoman in the Attic was a breakthrough in feminist literary criticism. This seminal work refers precisely to the first characters of madwomen seen in Victorian British novels which allowed the protagonists to have a "crazy double" that acted on their behalf, hidden behind their insanity.

(6.) The expression "shell shock" was coined in England during the First World War, to justify the behavior of men returning from the trenches of the front in Europe.

(7.) In Spain, the Socialist Party made a list of the ten most serious problems in the country at the beginning of this year. Domestic violence placed third. This list is a breakthrough in the relevance of gender violence to the country's political agenda.

(8.) Bertolt Brecht's "epic theater" was based on the idea that drama is not just entertainment but a way to raise public consciousness on issues of social importance. Brecht believed that the playwright should provoke alienation in the audience, rather than identification with the characters. This reaction would encourage the audience to think about the problem presented in the play and to adopt a critical position either for or against the issue. Thus Falcon's own definition of her work is quite fitting, linking women's daily experience to this epic theater that encourages debate and reflection by the theater-goers.

(9.) Original: "[M]illones de mujeres anonimas que sostienen el mundo por su base, pariendo los hijos, limpiando las casas, trabajando en el campo, en la oficina, en el hospital, sin que sus nombres tengan jamas un lugar en los libros ni en las lapidas conmemorativas. Las madres, las hijas, las esposas, las que abortan, las que luchan en politica, las que son golpeadas y asesinadas, tendran un espacio en mis escenarios."

(10.) Original: "La violencia esta rodeada de prejuicios que condenan de antemano a las mujeres y justifican a los hombres violentos ... La ausencia de una respuesta solidaria aumenta la soledad, la depresion, el aislamiento y el sentido de la impotencia"

(11.) All the quotes of Falcon's texts will refer to this edition of her plays. The bibliographical parenthesis will be omitted from now on. Original: "M: Mi marido me ha pegado ... (El inspector la mira con asombro. Deja el palillo y se inclina sobre la mesa para mirarla.) / I: [??]Y a mi que? / M: Queria presentar denuncia. / I: (Colerico) [??]Denuncia! [??]Sera posible? [??]No tiene usted nada mejor que hacer que venir aqui a presentar denuncia porque su marido la ha pegado, un domingo por la tarde, mientras retransmiten el partido de futbol?"

(12.) Recent TV reports on private channels (Tele 5 in October 2000 and Antena 3 in January 2001) have highlighted the lack of institutional support for victims and have gathered frightening testimonies that show the effect this double victimization has on their physical and mental health. As a result of this publicity, the Asociacion de Mujeres Artistas contra la Violencia (Association of Women Artists Against Violence), of Spanish music stars, has demanded the publication of a list of the judges who have favored the assailants in domestic violence cases.

(13.) Original: "Madga: Dice que ya no me quiere, que no le gusto. Dice que los ninos y yo le molestamos, que hacemos mucho ruido y que no le dejamos oir el partido. (El inspector da un respingo al oir esto y pone una expresion feroz.) / Inspector: [??]Y eso es verdad? (Magda lo mira asustada nuevamente y sin comprender responde.) / M: Bue ... bueno, a veces si, claro ... Los ninos son pequenos ... Juegan y chillan y yo no puedo ... (El resto de la frase se pierde.) / (Magda sigue hablando sin que se oiga. La radio esta muy fuerte, se oyen los gritos del campo de futbol.) I: (A gritos y muy enfadado.) [??]Y todavia querra denunciarlo! Un pobre hombre, cansado de trabajar, que regresa a su casa para disfrutar con el inocente recreo de escuchar un partido de futbol, final de Copa, ademas, y competicion contra el Madrid en su propio campo. Y se encuentra con una mujer Ilorona y unos ninos gritones que no le dejan oir con tranquilidad ... [??]Pero si es para matar a todos! [??]Poco le ha hecho!"

(14). "Y su pobre marido, reventado de trabajar, sin poder disfrutar del partido ... (Hace un ademan con la mano de perdon y olvido, mientras le senala la puerta.) Ande, [??]vayase! [??]Vayase de una vez y por esta se lo perdono! [??]Pero que no se repita"

(15.) Original: "Padre: (... Casi a gritos y haciendo gestos de amenaza.) [??]Pero que te has creido, de ninguna manera! [??]Casaros! [??]Novios! [??]Pero vaya con las hijas de hoy! [??]No tienen verguenza! Presentarse asi en mi casa, cuando yo no estoy. [??]Con un gaznapiro como este ... vaya usted a saber con que intenciones ...! ... [??]Largo de aqui, entiende, largo de aqui, y que no lo vuelva aver en mi casa! (Se vuelve de nuevo hacia ISABEL. Haciendo el gesto de pegarle.) [??]Y tu no vuelvas a traer a un hombre a mi casa, porque te rompere la cara! [??]Esta es una casa decente, me entiendes, y aqui se hace lo que yo mando, y nada mas! [??]Tu en casa atendiendome a mi, eso es lo que tienes que hacer! [??]Mientras yo pague esta casa aqui se hace lo que yo quiera!"

(16) Original: "Isabel: (Conciliadora.) ... Nuestro hijo me estaba diciendo que su novia es muy simpatica queen cuanto la conozcas .../ Marido: (Gritando.) [??]No pienso conocer a nadie! [??]Y tu no hagas de alcahueta mas! [??]Entendido? Y no me desobedezcas si no quieres que te rompa la cara ... (Se acerca amenazante a ISABEL que retrocede asustada. Hace el gesto de pegarle ...).!

(17.) Original: "Isabel: (Interponiendose entre los dos hombres, sobreponiendose a su miedo.) Es mi amante ... nos queremos ... (Baja un poco la voz al ver el gesto del HIJO de sorpresa y de violencia.) y queremos vivir juntos .../Hijo: (Se vuelve hacia ella con el ceno fruncido y expresion amenazadora.) [??]Omo? [??]Que dices? [??]A tu edad? Pero iesta, s local [??]Y yo, yo que te he alojado en mi casa, que te he mantenido todo estos anos, y ahora ... ahora te vas y ni siquiera me das las gracias! (Se acerca a ella en tono amenazador.) [??]Eres una puta, una puta, eso es[??] ... si mereces que ... (Hace el gesto de pegarle. ISABEL retrocede asustada ...)."

(18.) All the quotes from Mujeres refer to a non-published manuscript sent to me by the author.

(19.) In one of his e-mail communications, Pati Domenech commented that the audience has responded very well, both the specialists and the intellectuals, but his group is most pleased with the response of the general public (e-mail 01-18-01).

(20.) Original: "en muchos recuentos sobre la violencia que las mujeres sufren a manos de hombres que dicen amarlas, se evidencia que esta es una guerra de un sexo contra el otro ... y que es una guerra originada y perpetuada por el desmesurado poder que las sociedades otorgan a los hombres."

(21.) Original: "Repasando las revistas de la epoca nos encontramos con joyas como estas: ... "No hay nada mas bello que servir" (Paz se levanta por sorpresa y se marca un taconeo muy espanol ...) La verdadera mision de la mujer es dar hijos a la patria ... y mas calida se afirma en nosotros [sic] esta seguridad de servir calladamente en la casa: hija, madre, mujer, es nuestra tarea dar sin tasa ni medida."

(22.) Original: "No se por que aguante tanto, debi haberme ido mucho antes, lo se ... Pensaba que a pesar de todo, los ninos, como todos los ninos, necesitaban un padre, aunque ahora veo claramente que un padre como ese ... que hubiera hecho yo con cuatro ninos y sin tener donde caerme muerta ... tenia la moral por los suelos, al fin y al cabo, que se hacer para ganarme la vida (Maria clava la primera navaja [en la mesa], Paz taconea/baila). Y ademas esta soledad, siempre me asusto la soledad, con el sola, sin el tambien ... alguna vez pense en separarme, sobre todo cuando pasaba dias en casa sin salir, para que nadie viera los moretones, pero no tenia fuerzas, pensaba en el que diran, ... que si el tendria sus motivos, que si no le atendia bien, que si era una mala madre ..., todavia la culpable seria yo (Maria clava la segunda navaja, Paz taconea/ baila). Le tenia miedo, un miedo mortal que me paralizaba ... cada vez que le vela llegar a casa torcido, con esa mirada turbia que yo ya conocia, me entraba una flojera horrorosa, sabia exactamente lo que iba a pasar y no podia hacer nada para impedirlo ... Muchas veces llegue a creer que me lo tenia merecido, que la culpa era mia ... me daba pena, mucha pena de mi misma y de mis hijos ... a veces me daba hasta pena de el ... Era como un nino, despues de machacarme se arrepentia, me prometia que iba a cambiar ... y yo tonta de mi, siempre le crei ... pero el muy cabron volvia a partirme la cara sin motivo alguno, una y otra vez. Cada vez mas fuerte, con mas rabia. (Maria clava la tercera navaja, Paz taconea/baila) Me costo mucho decidirme a hablar, que verguenza pase ... pero yo ya no podia mas, se me iba la vida ... estoy contenta de haberme librado de el, que pague por todo lo que nos hizo ... Quiza. algun dia, volvere a ser feliz."

Bibliography

Austin, G. 1990. Feminist Theories for Dramatic Criticism. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Case, S., ed. 1990. Performing Feminisms: Feminist Critical Theory and Theater. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Domenech, P. 2000. Mujeres Fraguando Suenos. Unpublished manuscript.

Europa Press. 2000. "Sesenta millones de mujeres son victimas de malos tratos." In: La Nueva Espana.

Gabriele, J. 1997. El Teatro Breve de Lidia Falcon. Madrid: Espiral/Fundamentos.

Hirigoyen, M. 1998. El Acoso Moral El maltrato psicologico en la vida cotidiana. Barcelona: Circulo de Lectores.

Instituto de la Mujer. 1999. Cuaderno de Salud XII: Violencia contra las mujeres. Madrid: Ministerio de Trabajo y Asuntos Sociales & Instituto de la Mujer.

Lalia Women's Association. 2000. "El ciclo de la violencia." Available on-line at: www. geocites.com/lalia/violencia/ norto.html

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. 2000. "Facts on domestic violence." Available online at: www.healthtouch.co

Rubin, G. 1975. "The Traffic in Women. Notes on the `Political Economy' of Sex, "In Toward an Anthropology of Women. Rayna Reiter, ed., New York: Monthly Review Press.

The author has a bachelor's degree in English Literature from the Universidad de Oviedo (Asturias, Spain), where she is currently preparing her thesis for a doctoral degree in Women's Studies.