Revenge, Representation and the Importance of Memory in Susana Torres Molina's Una noche cualquiera

Abstract

Susana Torres Molina’s Una noche cualquiera (1999) addresses the seemingly casual encounters that occur in a society in which victims and victimizers must coexist. At stake is the nature of the encounters between the victimized and the complicit, and the possibility of showing on stage not only the crimes committed but an adequate response to those crimes. The use of video, recording the actions of both actors and audience, raises issues of repetition, memory, and documentation. The presence of television on stage also highlights the relationship of theatre and electronic or video media. The encounter among the six characters on stage could happen at any time. The play’s final scene raises, but does not resolve, the question of whether closure – or justice – is even possible.