Antigone in Argentina: Griselda Gambaro's Antígona Furiosa

Abstract

This article examines the ways in which Argentinean playwright Griselda Gambaro re‐shapes and re‐codes the Antigone myth to comment upon the political repression Argentina faced under military Juntas which ruled and terrorized the country from 1976–1983. In particular Gambaro conflates Sophocles’ Antigone with the Mothers of the Plaza deMayo, a group of women who openly opposed the Junta by marching in attempt to recover the bodies of their children who had been “disappeared. “By explicating the specific cultural context that informs the subject matter, this article de‐codes the play for a non‐Argentine audience and shows the ways in which Gambaro's play intersects with and critiques the Argentine society within which and for whom she writes.

Key words:

• Gambaro
• Antigone
• Argentinean theatre