The primary purpose of the present study is to analyse the aesthetics, theory and practice of Los Volatineros, an independent theatre group, in the socio-political and cultural context of Buenos Aires in 1976-1989. Role interpretation and receptiongo hand in hand and comprise a unit in my combined staging and reception analyses, which are further related to contextual aspects. My analysis also includes various theatre genres and aesthetic orientations that have existed in the theatre of Buenos Aires since the beginning of the 20th century in order to establish their traces in Los Volatineros' work and aesthetics and in their contributions to theatre. My study addresses the social and ideological context in which Los Volatineros worked and its impact on the theatre group's activities and goals as well as on its public. Finally, I discuss the prerequisites for Argentina's cultural integration with other countries in Latin America and the legitimation of Argentinian cultural products on a regional and global level. The dissertation is divided into four overlapping parts: 1. Argentina's structural and contextual preconditions; 2. Los Volatineros - Staging; 3. The Theatre in Buenos Aires -a diachronic perspective, and a digression: A view of theatre in Latin America; 4. Ideology, culture and society. I have been mainly inspired by the social and cultural points of departure of Jürgen Habermas and Pierre Bourdieu and I have applied a hermeneutic view and semiotic principles in my analyses.

Since 1976 Los Volatineros has pragmatically contributed to bridging the gaps between experimental and traditional orientations in the theatre. In practice, it has become a sort of representative example of - even synonymous with - a non-realistic approach, combining intensive physical acting, maximum use of the spatial possibilities of the performance space, emphasis on the metonymical function of lighting, and interactive communication with the public. Their productions took up Argentinian and Latin American themes and contained subtle social criticism. Their aesthetics became established in the 1980s and they became a model for new theatre groups in Buenos Aires. All this occurred within the context of an historically tense relationship between the cosmopolitan civil society of Buenos Aires and the state, and within the framework of the Argentinian state's constitutional ruptures, which engendered feelings of uncertainty, insecurity and impermanence as regards societal development in general and culture in particular. The cultural field in Buenos Aires has a central regional role, but at the the same time, a peripheral position vis a vis cities in Europe and the US when it comes to legitimising cultural products.