As a dramaturg and performer myself, I am very much interested in the experience of anger through stage formats and aesthetics that include humor as the core mechanism of resistance to which this “new woman” adapts.

Violence against women, domestic violence, misogynistic practices, the dead feminine body, the emotion of anger, gender-based discrimination and social unfairness in overall are tragic topics. I suggest humor as a stage mechanism, having as a reference the ancient meaning of the term that comes from the Greek word chymos and its metaphorical interpretation, which is flavor. I can imagine stage formats and dramaturgical perspectives where the display of the emotion of anger with humor derives from what Hegel said –or was Heidegger that said it?– that “comedy is the confidence that we won’t experience tragedy”.

Approaching such sensitive thematics with the intention to scout into their multidimensional nature, humor can emerge as a connector and it can deliver tragic facts with bottomless honesty. Performing humor is far beyond any joke and the fun of a situation. Humor functions as Ariadni’s thread, that assists so that we can deal with all the Minotaurs of our psychosocial labyrinth and –sooner or later— to find the way out. The topic of gender-based violence generates a stage conflict that –-consciously or subconsciously– induces an avalanche of traumatic memories both to the performer and the spectator. The humor mechanism can function as a beacon of resistance against the “lonely anger”, can encourage togetherness and —by bringing forward this ostensibly absurd medium when we deal with tragedy— humor can give greater perceptibility to all of the above fatal themes.

And as a beloved drama professor used to say: We need first to laugh before we cry.