The first lecture in the residency “War and Theatre in the 21st Century” has been given by Argentinian professor Luis Emilio Abraham; its title was “Social-emotional goods in theatre for post-heroic periods: two cases in Argentinian theatre”. In his speech, the professor currently teaching at Cuyo National University has analysed two plays, Nada que ver con otra historia [Nothing to do with another story] (1970), by Griselda Gambaro, and Automáticos [Automatic] (2005), by Javier Daulte, as texts which reflect social symptoms and attempt to act on them.

The lecture’s working hypothesis has been the following: the psycho-social and educational goods in fiction are essential for contemporary society, and theatre has exceptional capacities to act as a mirror. After some theoretical background featuring authors such as Rita Segato and Herfried Münkler, Professor Abraham has compared snippets of Gambaro’s play with speeches by Eva Perón, and has also dissected snippets of Daulte’s play.