20th-Century Spanish Theater
ITEM 9: 20th-Century Spanish Theater
The theater, more than other genres, is subject to extra-literary circumstances that influence its development: commercial pressure and censorship.
In the early 20th century, the theatrical genre in Spain had two distinct manifestations: a theater intended for performance, satisfying the public’s desire for amusement, and an innovative theater with artistic intentions, which clashed with the audience’s tastes and either didn’t reach the stage or did so with little success. The first group includes:
Comic Theater
“A comic theater of types and environments based on popular customs or the sainetes (short, one-act plays). Many of them were Andalusian, which staged superficial or emotional problems through light and witty dialogues. Others thrived in Madrid, with characters typical of the upper-class and popular neighborhoods, employing a language full of humor, puns, and double meanings. Along with traditional sketches, such as La verbena de la Paloma (The Fair of the Dove), Arniches (creator of this language) developed the ‘grotesque tragedy,’ the union of the humor of the sketches with tragic or moving situations, as in Doña Clarines (Miss Trevélez).”
Another comic subgenre was called ‘slapstick.’ It’s a theater of the absurd intended to get easy laughs based on misunderstandings, distortion of words, absurd scenes, etc. Pedro Muñoz Seca, one of its creators, is the author of the famous La venganza de Don Mendo (Don Mendo’s Revenge).
Modern Verse Drama
“A modern drama in verse, with colorful shapes and sound, that portrays legendary exploits of the heroic past, as in En Flandes se ha puesto el sol (In Flanders the Sun Has Set) by Eduardo Marquina.
Drawing-Room Comedy
“A ‘drawing-room comedy,’ heir to the ‘high comedy’ of the 19th century. These works are well-written with fluid dialogues, posing critical flaws inherent in the human condition. Los intereses creados (The Vested Interests) by Jacinto Benavente is a farce based on the characters of the Commedia dell’arte in which he criticizes conventional bourgeois ideals.
Given this success, there was another theater with renewed intentions in line with the rest of the literary genres of this period, but it failed to engage the public. However, two authors have achieved today the applause of both critics and audiences: Valle-Inclán and García Lorca.
Valle-Inclán
Valle-Inclán cultivated a bohemian and flamboyant character. His personal evolution took him from the Carlist ideology of his youth to the revolutionary positions of his later years. With respect to his career in theater, three basic stages can be considered:
First Stage: Modernist Anti-Realism
– A first modernist anti-realist stage with careful poetic language, often in verse, and with the same settings and characters as the narrative works of this period. Later, but with the same characteristics, is Romance de lobos (Romance of Wolves).
Second Stage: Mythic Cycle
– The second stage corresponds to the so-called mythic cycle, which, in a rural environment in a primitive and superstitious Galicia, features characters representing a timeless and almost ancient world, dominated by primal instincts, leading to a series of terrible scenes of great dramatic force. This group includes Comedias bárbaras (Barbaric Comedies).
Third Stage: The Grotesque and Esperpento
– The third stage, the grotesque, begins with La marquesa Rosalinda (The Marquise Rosalinda). These are works in which the characters become caricatures and grotesque puppets. On this path lies Divinas palabras (Divine Words). This stage eventually flows into esperpento, which is established with Luces de bohemia (Bohemian Lights) (1920) as a systematic distortion of reality as a vehicle to denounce contemporary Spain. Esperpento features include:
- Characters converted into degraded puppets through procedures such as animalization or objectification.
- Presentation of contemporary issues and conflicts, featuring characters whose ridiculous contrast to the situation produces grotesque black humor, bitter and critical.
- Rapid succession of characters (too many) and scenes (very different).
- A variety of linguistic registers: cultisms, literary quotations, parodies, slang… often in contrast with the context of the work.
- Dimensions of functional and literary value, based on descriptions, built with quick strokes and nominal sentences loaded with connotations.
The dramatic work of Valle-Inclán was a renovation that anticipated the trends of his time.
Post-War Theater
The war was an inevitable rupture. Valle-Inclán, Unamuno, García Lorca, and Muñoz Seca died, and among the exiles, Alejandro Casona stands out, author of a poetic and well-constructed drama that raises the conflict between illusion and truth. But there was also a certain continuity: Benavente and Arniches continued writing and premiering their works. In the postwar years, a drama that follows the line of Benavente’s moral or social critique stands out, sometimes in a low or ideological tone and sometimes in a lighter or sentimental tone.
Enrique Jardiel Poncela
Enrique Jardiel Poncela, novelist and playwright, developed the comic possibilities of using misleading language, brilliant dialogue, and outrageous puns. Often, the humor hides a bitter and skeptical view of reality. His works have atypical characters and nonsensical situations that are explained throughout the work. Highlights: Cuatro corazones con freno y marcha atrás (Four Hearts with Brake and Reverse).