Lacrifagia y mercancía: Reflexiones sobre Girls & Boys (2022) de Alfredo Castro y Edipo stand up tragedy (2023) de Teatro La Provincia Reflections on Girls & Boys (2022) by Alfredo Castro and Edipo stand up tragedy (2023) by Teatro La Provincia

Abstract

Faced with the problem of the work of art as mere inconsequential commodity, that is to say, devalued of all aesthetic and unproductive meaning, we propose to consider the case of two recent theatrical works from the Chilean theatre circuit in Santiago -Girls & Boys (2022) by Alfredo Castro and Edipo stand up tragedy (2023) by Teatro La Provincia- in order to establish a different view from the work itself in the face of its irremediable condition as a cultural merchandise-product. Our hypothesis is that these scenic cases, by elaborating their structures from the Stand-Up Comedy support, are capable of generating, but a rupture, an awareness of themselves that suspends the logical of capital production of their support to make appear-raise not only its opposite (tragedy), but also to give an account of the de-fetishised condition of the cultural work-product. To do this, we have divided this article into three chapters: 1) The fetish of merchandise, 2) Merchandise as spectacle, and 3) Lachryphagy of merchandise. In the first, we will dedicate ourselves purely to clarifying the concept elaborated by Karl Marx; in the second, we will develop Guy Debord´s theory in order to establish a scope with the Stand-Up Comedy device; Finally, in the third chapter, we will carry out the analysis corresponding to the stage cases in order to give an account, by means of the metaphor of the concept of “lachryphagy”, of our hypothesis.

Merchandise fetish

Spectacular society

Cultural product

Stand-Up Comedy

Chilean theater