20th Century Spanish Theater: From Evasion to Criticism
The Burgtheater and Evasion
During the war, the dominant theater in Spain was the Burgtheater, characterized by its focus on escapism and appeal to a bourgeois audience. The plays of this era were generally apolitical and aimed at pure entertainment. This style prevailed until 1949, with prominent figures like Jaime Joaquín Calvo Sotelo and Edgar Neville.
Other notable playwrights of this period include:
- José María Pemán
- Juan Ignacio Luca de Tena
- Enrique Jardiel Poncela
- Miguel Mihura
Enrique Jardiel Poncela (EJP): Premiering his first play in 1927, EJP’s work was known for its intelligent and ironic humor. He moved away from traditional comic theater, embracing the improbable and absurd. Some of his most popular plays include Four Hearts with Brake and Reverse, Eloísa Is Under an Almond Tree, and The Honest Thieves.
Miguel Mihura (MM): Mihura’s early work was rooted in the absurd and illogical. He aimed not only to entertain but also to provoke thought. Later, he shifted towards a more escapist style, catering to a public seeking pure entertainment. His most important work is Three Top Hats. Mihura often contrasted the wealthy bourgeois world with a more rebellious and bohemian one in plays like A Peach in Syrup, Maribel and the Strange Family, and A Man from Murcia.
Theater of Exile
The immediate post-war period saw a surprising surge in theatrical activity, primarily outside of Spain. Despite being uprooted, the reform movement of the 1930s continued to thrive, driven by exiled playwrights and ongoing theatrical productions.
Alejandro Casona: Unlike Max Aub or Rafael Alberti, Casona’s pre-war works were less politically charged. In his later works, he prioritized reaching a wider audience. To achieve this, he moved away from explicitly Spanish themes (a shift he had begun before exile with Our Natacha) and embraced bourgeois escapist comedy in plays like The Lady of the Dawn and Trees Die Standing. These well-written comedies, with their strong dramatic situations, polished dialogue, and poetic touches, offered audiences a welcome escape from reality.
Towards a New Theater
By the mid-1960s, a new generation of playwrights emerged, seeking to move beyond social realism and embrace avant-garde and experimental theater. Key figures in this movement included Antonio Gala, Fernando Arrabal, and Francisco Nieva, along with Luis Riaza, Jerónimo López Mozo, José Sanchis Sinisterra, and others.
Antonio Gala: A prolific writer of plays, essays, poetry, and novels, Gala’s theatrical work often explored the human condition, set against contemporary, historical, or mythical backdrops. Notable plays include The Green Fields of Eden, Anillos para una dama, Petra Regalada, and The Beautiful Sleepers.
Fernando Arrabal: A founder of the “Panic Movement,” Arrabal’s work was influenced by Dadaism, Surrealism, the Theater of the Absurd, and the Theater of Cruelty. His plays often featured the unusual, the sordid, humor, and confusion, pushing boundaries and challenging conventions. His avant-garde and absurd works include The Car Cemetery and Guernica, while The Red and Black Aurora exemplifies his guerrilla theater style.
Francisco Nieva: Though he wrote several plays in the 1950s, Nieva’s work didn’t gain widespread recognition until the 1970s. A director, set designer, and member of the Royal Academy since 1990, his critical and high-quality theater often explored unconventional themes, including Spain, eroticism, and religion. His diverse styles include:
- “Combat Theater”: The Opals and Tasia
- Farce and Calamity: Cursed Be the Crowned and Their Daughters
- Chronic Theater: Shadow and Chimera of Larra
Critical Theater
The premiere of Antonio Buero Vallejo’s works marked a significant shift in Spanish theater. The generation of the 1950s and 1960s established a critical realist style, seeking to engage with social and ethical issues and explore the individual’s relationship with their reality (social realism). These playwrights saw the stage as a platform for reflecting and challenging Spanish society. They often employed avant-garde techniques, including expressionism, to convey their message.
Key figures in the critical realist movement include Alfonso Sastre, Buero Vallejo, and Lauro Olmo, along with José María Méndez, José Martín Recuerda, and Carlos Muñiz.
Alfonso Sastre: Unable to freely stage his politically charged work during the dictatorship, Sastre was a fiercely independent playwright. His works range from existentialist dramas like Squadron Towards Death to critical realist plays with a social focus like Death in the Neighborhood, epic tragedies like The Blood Wedding, and complete tragedies like The Fantastic Tavern.
Lauro Olmo: Olmo’s plays captured the realities of everyday life with remarkable insight. His theater was characterized by realism, truth, social criticism, and strong dramatic tension. Notable works include The Sardine’s Belly and The Shirt.
Antonio Buero Vallejo: Buero Vallejo’s work ushered in a new era for Spanish drama, breaking away from the bourgeois escapism of earlier plays and engaging directly with the realities of Spanish society. Though some critics divide his work into realistic and symbolic phases, Buero Vallejo himself rejected this distinction, emphasizing the unity of his theatrical vision.
Buero Vallejo’s style is marked by several recurring elements:
- Opposing Attitudes: His characters often embody contrasting approaches to life, highlighting the tension between active engagement and passive acceptance.
- Immersion Effect: Buero Vallejo sought to immerse the audience in the reality of his characters’ lives, fostering empathy and identification.
- Detailed Annotations: His plays are meticulously detailed, with precise descriptions of settings, gestures, movements, and even special effects, making them “plays to be read” as well as performed.
- Symbolism: Buero Vallejo frequently employed symbolism, both in his characters and in scenic elements. Darkness and light are recurring motifs, with blindness representing human limitations and loneliness, and light symbolizing truth and hope.
His notable works include:
- Critical and denouncing plays: History of a Staircase and The Skylight
- Symbolic plays: The Foundation and The Dream Weaver
- Historical plays: A Dreamer for a People, Las Meninas, and The Concert of San Ovidio