Spanish Theater Evolution: 1940s to 1970s
Theater in Exile
Max Aub: Public in 1942 “San Juan”. The book presents the story of a contingent of Jewish immigrants fleeing the Nazis in a boat, the “San Juan”, and failing to be received in any port.
Alejandro Casona: Debuts in Buenos Aires “La Dama del Alba” (1944), “The Boat Without a Fisherman” (1945), “Trees Die Standing” (1949).
1940s: Evasion and Humor
Highlights include the innovative theater humor of Enrique Jardiel Ponce and Miguel Mihura. Mihura’s most representative work is “Three Top Hats”, a comedy that satirizes the routine and mediocrity of the bourgeoisie in the provinces and the equally miserable life of vaudeville. It faces two worlds and two conceptions of life: the prosaic bourgeois life of Dionisio and the poetic life and freedom of Paula.
1950s: Existential and Social Theater
The realistic theater scene attempted to revive Spanish theater and express opposition to the dictatorship. The works raised issues like social injustice, exploitation, the life of the middle and lower class, and the human condition of the downtrodden. Notable playwrights include:
- Alfonso Sastre: “Squadron Towards Death” (1953), “The Gag” (1954)
- Lauro Olmo: “The Shirt” (1962; a drama about migration)
Antonio Buero Vallejo
Three stages can be distinguished in his work:
- Existential Stage (reflecting on the human condition): In “Historia de una Escalera” (1949), the protagonists are four young people, neighbors on the top floor of an old house.
- Social Drama (denouncing injustices that affect society): “A Dreamer for a People” denounces the exploitation of a group of blind people in Paris in the years preceding the French Revolution.
- Innovation Stage: Perhaps the most striking technical innovation is what has been called the “immersion effect”. It is the scenic view of the scene by the viewer through the characters. Works: “The Sleep of Reason”. His latest works are: “Judges in the Night” (1979), “Lazarus in the Labyrinth” (1986), “Close Listening” (1989), and “Random Traps” (1994).
1960s and 1970s: Formal Renewal
- Commercial Theater: Mihura’s comedies continue to succeed. Among the new playwrights, Antonio Gala stands out. In 1963, he premiered his first comedy, “The Green Fields of Eden”. During the 1970s, he enjoyed the favor of the public with works such as “Rings for a Lady”.
- Experimentation: As with narrative and poetry, new authors consider social realism finished and seek new proposals characterized by their aesthetic opposition to “realism”. However, in many cases, the works are not exempt from social criticism. Many of these works did not find it easy to be represented, either due to problems with censorship or because their formal audacity did not resonate with the public. There is talk of “underground theater” or “theater of silence”.
Fernando Arrabal’s Peculiar Theater
Imagination, surreal elements, child language, and a break with logic are the characteristics of the first set of Fernando Arrabal’s works, such as “Tricycle” (1953). Exiled in France since 1955, his works (generally first performed in France and published in French rather than Castilian) would fall within the so-called “theater of the absurd”.