Spanish Independent Theater and Poetic Expression in the Franco Era
Spanish Artistic Movements Under Franco
Characteristics of Poetic Expression
- The poet is an average person, engaged with readers in a shared social and collective life.
- Poetic experience expresses personal feelings the poet shares with readers, including how to live them. This poetry often employs a historical narrative method of abstraction.
- Poetic language is clear, simple, and colloquial, often appearing unpoetic.
Key Features of This Poetic Style
- Clarity and transparency.
- Conversational tone and an aesthetic of everyday life.
- Fictional autobiographical dramatic monologue.
- Engagement with tradition.
- Humor and irony.
- Focus on urban spaces.
- Strong narrative quality.
Independent Theater Movement During Francoism
Common Characteristics of Independent Theater Groups
- Opposition to the Franco regime ideology: These groups advocated for social criticism in theater. Their works exposed the dictatorial political system, often staging realistic protest plays. This led to the rise of underground theater.
- Rejection of commercial and conventional bourgeois theater: They sought alternatives to mainstream productions.
- Search for new possibilities of expression and aesthetic innovations: They drew inspiration from international practices and theories of the time, including figures like Peter Brook (British), Tadeusz Kantor, Jerzy Grotowski (Polish), and Victor Garcia (from the Argentine school established in Spain).
In summary, the independent theater movement, which emerged in the 1960s, became a significant alternative to Franco’s official and commercial theater. Participating in, supporting, or attending performances by independent theater groups was a direct manifestation of political opposition against the regime. Consequently, theater was heavily persecuted by the police and censorship, remaining a marginal art form but simultaneously becoming a powerful symbol of the protest movement against Franco.
Context and Emergence of Independent Theater
A) The Predominantly Private Theatrical Structure
Franco’s regime never developed a political theater. Theater under Franco was eminently private; therefore, it was operated by business owners primarily in search of economic benefits, aiming for a predominantly commercial theater that easily appealed to the public. The success of the theater business depended on public opinion and majority appeal. This meant private theaters would stage works by popular and successful figures, such as Lina Morgan and Arturo Fernández. The Franco government only protected two public theaters in Spain, both in Madrid: the municipal Spanish Theater of Madrid and the María Guerrero.
B) The Impact of Censorship
The inquisitorial and prohibitive Spanish censorship had effectively blocked all avenues for public, semi-critical, and anti-Franco opposition in theater. This particularly harmed realistic authors and playwrights who began writing in the 1950s; their works were often not performed or published in the 1960s and even into the 1970s. This affected great writers like Alfonso Sastre and Martín Recuerda. However, it did not affect Buero Vallejo, who managed to negotiate with censorship.
C) Emergence of Independent Theaters
In the 1960s, a number of groups began to emerge that maintained economic, organizational, and artistic independence from all official institutions. These were groups of young graduates who had engaged in university theater (known as TEUs – Teatro Español Universitario). These TEUs were dependent on Francoist universities and the SEU (Sindicato Español Universitario – Spanish University Union). From the 1960s onwards, these university students, formerly part of TEUs, became independent from the university and formed the so-called independent theater groups.