Spanish Theater Before the Civil War: From Benavente to Lorca
Spanish Theater Before the Civil War
Commercial Theater
Jacinto Benavente
Jacinto Benavente enjoyed a large bourgeois audience. His theater presented a chronicle, often amicable, of the concerns and prejudices of this class through gentle irony. His conception of drama aligned with his belief that theater should be a means of illusion and escape. His works are notable for their natural, fluid dialogue, prone to judgment. Benavente replaced narrative action with dialogue and reflection, placing key moments offstage or between acts.
- Vested Interests: Explores the theme of the power of money.
- The Unloved: Highlights the sense of honor, characteristic of rural areas.
The Alvarez Quintero Brothers
The Alvarez Quintero brothers reflected life in a friendly and superficial manner, with smooth action and humorous dialogue. Their works include Suit of Lights, Patio, Songs, Mariquita Earthquake, and the Drama of Malvaloca.
Pedro Muñoz Seca
Pedro Muñoz Seca was the creator of the astrakhan genre, a parody of serious theater, both domestic and foreign. His notable works include The Revenge of Don Mendo and Los Extremeños Meet.
Carlos Arniches
Carlos Arniches’ work is divided into two phases: the Madrid farce, which reflects the Castilian dialect (as in The Saint of the Isidra), and the grotesque tragedy, which combines comedy with social injustice (as in Mademoiselle de Trévelez).
Fresh Attempts
Miguel de Unamuno
Unamuno aimed to create a dramatic style that was direct and free from excessive ornamentation. He advocated for a bare stage, reducing characters and passions to their core, and simplifying the action. He sought ultimate reality through theater. His works include Medea, The Band and the Sphinx, and Doña Lambra.
Azorín
Azorín fought against naturalist aesthetics and championed an anti-realist drama that incorporated the subconscious, dreams, and fantasy. He emphasized dialogue and lighting. His themes include happiness, time, and death. His works include the Invisible Trilogy.
Jacinto Grau, Miguel Hernández, Rafael Alberti, Max Aub
These playwrights also contributed to the theatrical landscape of the time with their unique styles and themes.
Ramón María del Valle-Inclán
Valle-Inclán’s dramatic career was marked by a constant desire for renewal and a formal and thematic intention to break with the theater of his time. He evolved towards the esperpento, a grotesque and satirical style, whose elements are visible throughout his works.
Early Dramatic Works:
Valle-Inclán’s early symbolist theater distanced itself from realism by incorporating characters with realistic language and attitudes, and ironically attempted caricature. His works include The Marquis of Bradomín and Savage Souls.
Galician Dramas:
Works like Divine Words and Barbarous Words fall under the heading of his “mythical cycle.” These works are connected by their themes, characters, atmosphere, and meaning. They are set in a mythical, timeless Galicia, representing an archaic society used to present a vision of a world governed by primal forces. Conflicts focus on lust, pride, cruelty, despotism, sin, sacrilege, superstition, and magic.
The Farces:
In his farces, Valle-Inclán uses celebrity, disguises, and play-within-a-play techniques, seeking to break the effect of scenic reality. His works include The Marquise Rosalinda, The Head of the Dragon, The Love of the King, and The Castiza Queen.
The Esperpentos:
This genre distorts aspects of characters and situations, resulting in a caricatured vision that is alternately comic and macabre. His esperpentos include Bohemian Lights (1920), Don Friolera’s Horns (1921), The Late Gentleman’s Festivities (1926), and The Captain’s Daughter (1927), the latter three published together under the title Mardi Gras in 1930.
Federico García Lorca
Lorca believed in a truly poetic theater, creating a total spectacle. His dramatic production expressed the problems of life and history through a language charged with connotations.
Early Plays:
His early works include The Butterfly’s Evil Spell, Mariana Pineda, The Tragicomedy of Don Cristóbal and Doña Rosita, and The Shoemaker’s Prodigious Wife.
Impossible Comedies:
Plays like The Public and When Five Years Pass, influenced by surrealism, anticipate later developments in European theater: the breaking of space-time logic, split personality, and the possibility of multiple interpretations.
Tragedies and Dramas:
In Lorca’s tragedies, the plot is of little importance, with few main characters and the involvement of choruses. They thrive in rural settings where natural forces impose a tragic destiny. His major tragedies include Blood Wedding (1932), Yerma (1934), and The House of Bernarda Alba (1936).