20th Century Spanish Theater: From Commercial Plays to Avant-Garde
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Commercial Theater
Jacinto Benavente: A popular playwright among the bourgeoisie, Benavente’s theater offered a humorous yet insightful reflection of this class’s concerns and prejudices. His plays, characterized by natural and fluid dialogue, often prioritized witty commentary over intricate plots. Key moments frequently occurred offstage, emphasizing the power of suggestion. Notable works include Vested Interests, exploring the influence of wealth, and The Unloved, highlighting the significance of honor in rural society.
The Alvarez Quintero Brothers: Known for their lighthearted and engaging plays, the Quintero brothers depicted everyday life with humor and charm. Their works, such as Suit of Lights, featured lively dialogue and relatable characters.
Pedro Muñoz Seca: A master of the astrakhan genre, Muñoz Seca satirized societal norms and theatrical conventions. His plays, including The Revenge of Don Mendo and Los Extremadura Meet, offered a humorous escape from the seriousness of traditional theater.
Carlos Arniches: Arniches’s work showcased the vibrancy of Madrid’s culture. His early farces, like The Saint of Isidra, captured the essence of traditional Madrid speech. Later, he delved into grotesque tragedy, blending humor with social commentary in plays like Mademoiselle de Trévelez.
Fresh Attempts
Miguel de Unamuno: Unamuno sought to revolutionize Spanish theater by stripping away excessive ornamentation and focusing on raw human emotion. He advocated for minimalist staging, reducing characters and plot to their essence. His plays, including Medea, The Band and the Sphinx, and Doña Lambra, explored existential themes and the search for truth.
José Martínez Ruiz (Azorín): Azorín challenged naturalist aesthetics, advocating for an anti-realist drama that incorporated dreams, fantasy, and the subconscious. His works, often referred to as an “invisible trilogy,” emphasized dialogue, lighting, and themes of happiness, time, and death.
Other Notable Playwrights: This era also witnessed contributions from playwrights like Jacinto Grau, Miguel Hernández, Rafael Alberti, and Max Aub, each bringing unique perspectives to the Spanish stage.
Valle-Inclán: A Theatrical Visionary
Early Dramatic Works: Valle-Inclán’s early plays, influenced by symbolism, featured realistic characters and dialogue, often with a satirical edge. Notable works from this period include The Marquis de Bradomin and Wilderness Souls.
Galician Dramas: Valle-Inclán’s”mythical cycle” including plays like The Divine Comedy and Barbarous Words, explored the myths and legends of his native Galicia. Set in a timeless and mythical world, these plays delved into themes of lust, pride, cruelty, and the darker aspects of human nature.
Farces: Valle-Inclán’s farces, such as The Marquesa Rosalinda, The Head of the Dragon, and The Love of King and Queen Castiza, employed disguises, play-within-a-play techniques, and a playful subversion of theatrical conventions.
The Absurd: In his later works, Valle-Inclán embraced elements of the absurd, distorting characters and situations to create a darkly comic and grotesque vision of reality. Plays like Luces de Bohemia (Bohemian Lights), Don Horns Friolera, Las galas of the late, and The Captain’s Daughter, published together as Mardi Gras, exemplify this stylistic shift.
Federico García Lorca: Poetry in Motion
Early Works: Lorca’s early plays, including The Curse of the Butterfly, Maria Pineda, The Tragicomedy of Don Cristobal and Miss Rosita, and The Prodigious Shoe, showcased his lyrical language and exploration of love, loss, and social expectations.
Impossible Comedies: Plays like The Public and Thus Five Years Pass revealed the influence of surrealism on Lorca’s work. These plays experimented with time, space, and identity, anticipating later developments in European theater.
Tragedies and Dramas: Lorca’s tragedies, often set in rural environments, explored themes of fate, passion, and social oppression. Blood Wedding, Yerma, and The House of Bernarda Alba stand as powerful examples of his tragic vision, characterized by evocative language, symbolic imagery, and a deep understanding of human nature.