La construcción de la identidad en "El bar que se tragó a todos los españoles", de Alfredo Sanzol

Abstract

El bar que se tragó a todos los españoles, by Alfredo Sanzol (2021) stages Jorge Arizmendi’s story, a catholic priest who in the 1960’s tried to begin a new secular life after getting the papal exemption from his religious duties. Through the main character’s vital an geographical journey —the play is set in different places from USA, Spain and Italy—, the author aims to answer the identity question: «Why is an issue for me to write the sentence “I am Spaniard”?». This paper explores the mechanisms for the construction of identity in three different aspects: 1) the transterritorial matter (Spain as an exile and itinerancy); 2) the historical review (theatre of memory which resignifies the late Francoism); and 3) the articulation, in a narrative way, of a discourse on the Self and the Ourselves (personal identity as an account and projective symbol of collective identity)