Is the State Fictional? Absurd, Liminality and Anachronisms in Rafael Spregelburd's "Apátrida, doscientos años y unos meses"

Abstract

This essay analyzes the written text of Apátrida, doscientos años y unos meses by Rafael Spregelburd, considering particularly its postdramatic procedures (as fomulated by Hans-Thies Lehmann) with the purpose of focusing on the problematization of the concept of “Nation-State”. We claim that the playwright, by appealing to certain deconstructive principles of theatrical representation, not only puts into question the frontier between reality and fiction but, also, contributes to underlining the impossibility of grasping the idea of “Nation-State”. In order to illustrate this aspect, we will analyze the superficial structure of the theater script.