SOURCE: Larson, Catherine. “Recollections of Plays to Come: Time in the Theatre of Elena Garro.” Latin American Theatre Review 22, no. 2 (spring 1989): 5-17.

In the following essay, Larson explores Garro's experimentation with temporal reality in her plays.

Elena Garro's dramatic works frequently test the limits of theatrical representation by detailing a clash between illusion and reality. Indeed, Frank Dauster observed this aspect of Garro's theatre, noting, “el teatro de Elena Garro demuestra una marcada preferencia por el tema de las relaciones entre diversas realidades. Sus personajes oscilan entre realidad e ilusión” (66). One way in which Garro calls attention to the line dividing appearance from reality is her interest in time. Temporal reality has been explored with regard to Garro's novels and short stories, but little critical attention has been paid to the ways that past, present, and future coalesce in her theatre.

Robert K. Anderson, who has studied...