Major Trends in 20th Century Spanish Theater
Major Trends of the Spanish Theater in the 20th Century
Definition
The theater has a commercial basis; theatrical representation requires a prior investment and is profitable only if it reaches the public. The public of the 19th and 20th centuries was bourgeois and, therefore, would not attend theatrical performances in which it was criticized. It rejected plays with aesthetics that were too new, bold, or experimental. The playwright was left with only the option of making a covenant with the public to have their works represented or committing to themselves or minorities, in which case they risked not being represented.
Two Scenarios
- Theater that is respectful of the rules.
- Innovative theater, both aesthetically and ideologically.
The first trend, the theater friendly to theatrical tradition, has these characteristics:
- Dosage of critical insignificance in the themes.
- Characters without excessive complications.
The most used theatrical genres are:
- Bourgeois comedy, whose most representative author is Jacinto Benavente. Characteristics of this theater include friendly criticism, an ironic, elegant portrait of the classes, drawing-room comedy, stereotyped language, and well-constructed theater. It demonstrates a mastery of resources and ability in dialogues. Examples include works such as Saturday Night and Autumn Roses, which offer mild criticism of the conventions and values of bourgeois society. Notably, The Vested Interests is a work that portrays the virtues and vices of the bourgeoisie. It belongs to the dramatic genre of farce.
- Drama in verse or poetic drama. Features: post-romantic, modernist touches, grand, traditional ideology, brilliant, sonorous, and musical language. Its themes are historical. The main cultivators are Francisco Villaespesa, with The Lioness of Castile, and Eduardo Marquina, with historical dramas like The Daughters of the Cid and In Flanders, the Sun Has Set.
- Comic theater: a prolongation of the sketches and género chico of the late 19th century. Features: popular themes, easy humor, typical characters, an absolute lack of social or personal problems, almost always based on the presentation of types and customs. The most representative authors are the brothers Alvarez Quintero, whose theater is identified with the themes and environments of topical and traditional Andalusia with a cheerful and optimistic vision of life, such as Puebla de las Mujeres and The Gay Genius. Carlos Arniches is known for his sketches of manners set in Madrid, with works influenced by género chico, such as The Saint of Isidra and Don Quintin the Bitter.
Innovative Theater
In contrast to traditional theater, an innovative current avoids issues affecting both engagement with reality and criticism of existing techniques. Highlights include:
- The first attempts carried out by Generation of ’98 authors (Azorín, Unamuno) used the theater as a vehicle for their ideas, along with some avant-garde authors and Ramón Gómez de la Serna.
- Valle-Inclán is a refreshing exception to the characteristics of the theater: the characterization of the characters, the value of the dimension, the creation of the grotesque, the critical wing of bourgeois society, politics, the military, etc. Works: Romance of Wolves and Silver Face, set in a mythical and rural Galicia full of violence and tragic passions. Divine Words is a tragicomedy set in a rural Galician village with elemental passions. Bohemian Lights is the first esperpento; it describes a style of theater based on the systematic deformation of reality and is a deformed satire.
- Federico García Lorca, whose plays have these refreshing characteristics: the issues (frustration, impossible desire, tragic fate), the environments (rural Andalusia, the fantastic world), the characters, and the language (poetry, depth, folklore). His works include the farce The Shoemaker’s Prodigious Wife; Mariana Pineda, about the heroine executed in Granada in 1831 for embroidering a liberal flag; and Doña Rosita the Spinster, set in Granada in 1900, on the issue of the unnecessary waiting for love by the protagonist.
Two Andalusian Tragedies
- Blood Wedding
- Yerma
An Andalusian Drama
- The House of Bernarda Alba
The traditional flow continued for many years after the civil war; the renewal was suddenly interrupted and had to wait for new times.