'Jauría': Documentary Theater as an Ethical Testimony of Gender- Based Violence

Abstract

This work explores the possibilities that the concept of ethical testimony, linked to documentary theatre as a specific form of political dramaturgy, presents to destabilize th e hegemonic discourse on gender-based violence. To do this, we analyze the text and the mise-en-scène of the documentary play, Jauría (The Pack). The work, written by Jordi Casanovas and directed by Miguel del Arco, directly presents to the public the events that occurred in the case of the so-called la Manada (wolfpack) through the transcripts of the trial that took place in 2018 in the High Court of Justice of Navarra. The operationalization of the four dimensions of ethical testimony enable us to investigate the ways in which Jauría is constructed as an ethical narrative of violence through, inter alia, the direct account of the facts and the discursive mechanisms of persuasion, specifically linked to a form of power. Finally, we conclude that the narrative of sexual violence in the paradigm of ethical testimony helps to challenge the dominant narrative about violence by triggering a political response oriented towards social transformation.