Buero Vallejo’s ‘The Skylight’: Themes, Symbols, and Social Commentary
Introduction
Premiered in 1967 with few censorship issues, but receiving harsh criticism from the press loyal to the Franco regime (marking the first time a critical reflection from the vanquished was reported), The Skylight is one of Buero Vallejo’s most representative plays. It embodies his dramatic conception thematically and scenically. It belongs to a second stage of his production, characterized by an insistence on social issues and the presence of non-realistic or symbolic elements.
The play presents two problems: firstly, it is a process of post-war reality; secondly, a reflection on the meaning of existence from a moral perspective. The tragic nature of both cases is resolved in a hopeful way, befitting Buero Vallejo’s tragic conception: the tragic outcome is moderated by moral reflection. Destiny has been fulfilled, but the etiology of errors is shown: the characters’ personalities, the pressure of the social environment. A better future is possible if an important objective is met: understanding and solidarity with others.
Multiple Scenic Spaces
- Scenic Area: A basement office on Wall Street.
- Researchers located in stalls and indoor spaces.
- Symbolic proscenium.
Basement
Symbol of the losers, victims, people opposed to the regime, those who “did not take the train.” Subconscious, shadows, Platonic myth of the cave. The “well” in which Marie contemplates sinking. Vincent is the light, truth, the punishment he redeems. Place of epiphany and “poetic justice.” Space for father, mother, and Mario. Connection with the prison-tomb of Sigismondo (Life Is a Dream).
Skylight
Located on the fourth wall. It links the outside to the inside, as if it were a cinema. Projection of the obsessions of all characters.
Office
Vincent’s space, symbol of the conquerors, murderers, the Franco regime, those who “took the train.” Place of injustice, exploitation, abuse.
Street Cafeteria
Emergence of the corner. Meeting place for the brother and Encarna. Proximity to the prostitution underworld.
Stalls
XXX-century stage.
Symbols
The Skylight
From a scenic point of view, the skylight is a finding due to its ability to suggest and involve the audience. This is one of the classic “immersion resources” of Buero’s theater (blindness or deafness made to feel, lived by the viewer with some resource). In this case, viewers identify with these characters referred to by the protagonists, while we contemplate them. But how radical is that “I” who speaks Mario: we are all one, we need to empathize with others to stop making us suffer. But that view of the skylight is also a symbol of the limitations of the human condition: we are doomed to have only a partial view of reality. We see only the reflections of the total reality. It’s something we can relate to, obviously, with the Platonic myth of the cave, in which we see only reflections of an ideal reality.
As a physical space, finally, it is also a symbol of the situation in which the defeated live in the post-war era – enclosed, submerged, and forgotten victims in the basement of society. But it saves the desire, the constant concern to transcend the darkness and go outwards towards the knowledge of the human being.
The Train
In a way, as opposed to the skylight, while the father’s identification. Represents the active life, “the wagon-train of life.” While appearing with a negative value from a real (the train taken by Vicente) it is clear that, in itself, the train of life is not far from negative. The negative and reprehensible is the attitude of one who takes the train apart from the effects on the rest of people. From another point of view, the sound of the train is identified with thoughts. The meaning, in this case, it seems less clear: the train passes, life happens, or rather, the thoughts are part of that life which would be necessary to grasp in its entirety. In any case, also noted his ability to suggest the obsessions of the characters.