Spanish Theater After 1936: From Exile to Experimentation

Posted on Sep 28, 2024 in Latin

Spanish Theater After 1936

Theater in Exile

By the end of the Civil War, prominent authors like Federico García Lorca and Ramón del Valle-Inclán were either dead or in exile. A slow recovery of theater in Spain began, heavily monitored by censorship. Theater in exile became a constant reminder of Spain, developing along four main streams:

  1. Political Theater: Heir to the agitprop style, exemplified by Rafael Alberti.
  2. Realistic Theater: Ranging from avant-garde social commentary (Max Aub) to intellectual and existentialist explorations of timeless themes like love and death (Pedro Salinas).
  3. Poetic or Symbolist Drama: Alejandro Casona, who achieved great fame upon his return to Spain in 1962. A member of the Generation of ’27, he collaborated with García Lorca on educational missions. Before the war, he was known for plays like The Stranded Mermaid and Our Natacha. His later poetic dramas in prose, reminiscent of Lorca’s style, often idealized life, masking harsher realities. Though once celebrated, his works are less prominent today. He incorporated supernatural elements (death, the devil) and unique characters into plays like Suicide in Spring, The Queen of Dawn, and No Fisherman’s Boat. His final work was The Knight of the Golden Spurs (about Francisco de Quevedo).

Bourgeois Drama

Influenced by Jacinto Benavente, this escapist theater, popular during the Franco regime, avoided addressing societal problems. Set among the upper-middle class in elegant surroundings, it explored conflicts like adultery and generational clashes, typically with happy endings and moral lessons. Key authors include José María Pemán, Juan Ignacio Luca de Tena, and Joaquín Calvo Sotelo (whose play The Wall dared to explore wartime remorse).

Humor

Alfonso Paso, a highly prolific playwright (with up to six titles running simultaneously in Madrid), represented a more lighthearted, less consequential style of humor. However, other playwrights offered more innovative approaches, moving beyond traditional and folkloric themes:

  1. Enrique Jardiel Poncela: A precursor to the Theater of the Absurd, his plays, like Four Hearts with Brake and Reverse (where characters grow younger over time), featured nonsensical, improbable situations with conventional resolutions. Other notable works include Eloísa está debajo de un almendro and The Honest Thieves.
  2. Miguel Mihura: Considered the true pioneer of comedic renewal, he wrote Three Hats in 1932, though it wasn’t staged until 20 years later. His critical, casual, and innovative humor, also seen in publications like La Codorniz, influenced later generations.
  3. The “Second Generation of ’27”: Edgar Neville (The Dance), José López Rubio, and Tono also contributed to this comedic renewal.

Realistic and Committed Theater

This movement premiered in 1949 with Antonio Buero Vallejo’s Historia de una escalera (Story of a Staircase), a realist drama with political and social undertones that faced censorship challenges. Two contrasting approaches emerged:

  1. Alfonso Sastre: Advocated for a radical theater of social unrest, directly confronting power. His politically charged plays, such as Death in the Neighborhood and The Corner, frequently clashed with censors. He later experimented with absurdism, grotesque, and Brechtian techniques.
  2. Antonio Buero Vallejo: Believed in “theater of the possible,” working within the system to subtly convey his message through historical figures and distanced situations. His work explored the human condition and can be divided into three groups: a) Realistic dramas critiquing Spanish reality (e.g., Historia de una escalera); b) Historical dramas analyzing the past (e.g., The Concert at Saint Ovid); and c) Symbolic works using theatrical devices to draw the audience into the characters’ inner landscapes (e.g., The Sleep of Reason, inspired by Goya’s deafness).

Following these figures, the “Realistic Generation” emerged in the late 1950s, with playwrights like José Martín Recuerda. Their works, often pessimistic, bitter, and despairing, focused on concrete realities like fear, migration, and rural life, featuring simple characters representing specific social sectors and employing direct, sometimes violent language.

Experimental Theater

In the late 1960s, a shift away from realism sought to connect with international avant-garde movements:

  1. Epic Theater (Bertolt Brecht): Emphasized a revolutionary message, encouraging audience engagement and critical thinking through techniques like narration, interruption, and stylized acting.
  2. Theater of the Absurd (Eugène Ionesco and Samuel Beckett): Explored the meaninglessness of existence through psychologically undeveloped characters in absurd scenarios.
  3. Theater of Cruelty (Antonin Artaud): Inspired by Surrealism, this visceral style aimed to shock and confront the audience.
  4. Independent Theater: Originating outside commercial circuits in England and the USA, this playful, popular style incorporated elements of circus, cabaret, and spectacle. It flourished in Spain towards the end of the dictatorship with groups like Els Joglars, Els Comediants, and La Cuadra.

Two notable Spanish playwrights of this era include Francisco Nieva, who blended Spanish tradition with international influences and a rich imagination, and Fernando Arrabal, based in France, whose work combined surrealism, absurdity, cruelty, and social critique.

The Last Decades of the Spanish Stage

Recent decades have seen great diversity but fewer emerging playwrights. Spanish and foreign works compete, with realistic themes prevailing. Notable figures include Fernando Fernán Gómez, Fermín Cabal, and Antonio Gala. Independent theater groups, often performing street theater, continue to thrive, including El Triciclo, La Fura dels Baus, and Dagoll Dagom.