Catalan Theatre: Popular Origins, Major Playwrights and Key Works

Popular Theatre and Its Roots

Teatre popular enjoyed wide acceptance among the popular classes. It reflected everyday life and defended the colloquial language, full of vulgarisms and castellanisms. The genre was mainly comedy, with frequent comedy sketches, brief ceremonies, humorous presentations and satirical criticism of the customs and characters of the nineteenth century. Scripts were often written in verse, rhymed and frequently performed by professional actors in popular environments.

Other Popular Authors

Other: Josep Robrenyo and Pitarra.

Valencian Theatre

Valencians: Josep Bernat i Baldoví, advocate, judge and alcalde of Sueca, was published posthumously. His work El Virgo Visantta (known as Ací presenta) contains no erotica. Other authors include Edward Escalante, a Valencian playwright who uses popular plays and comics, and whose language features characters who speak in colloquial style.

Works and Themes

Works such as Obrs include BUFR, Cldo Glat, Lesclta Daemon and Mon, along with three farces set in Madrid.

Catalan Theatre

Teatre català: mainly developed in Catalonia. It proposed a worthy theatre that defended archaic language and romantic ideals, with predominantly idealised characters, passionate love and dramas about freedom.

Frederic Soler (Serafí Pitarra)

Frederic Soler was a prolific playwright. His works criticised society and its political and social customs, often using colloquial language. Among them are Three Dragons Castle, Drames romàntics and costumbrist comedies, including Els diamants de la rosa.

Àngel Guimerà

Àngel Guimerà was born in Tenerife in 1845 and died in 1924. His parents were not married until years after his birth, a fact that marked his life and his commitment to Catalan culture. He sympathised with the Catalan cause and directed the magazine La Renaixença, the cultural movement that revived Catalan language and literature.

Guimerà's Main Stages

1. Romantic tragedy: Guimerà began with romantic drama, such as Gal·la Placídia. His theatre focused on human passion and conflicts, with characters caught in traditional verse. Among his works are Judith de Welp and The Son of the King.

2. Fullness of the realist drama: Guimerà approached realism, portraying the social tensions of his era. He wrote in prose and predominantly in a realist style. His characters are often victims of hatred and poverty, leading to tragic outcomes, as in Maria Rosa and La Filla del Mar.

3. Modernist trends: Guimerà was an internationally recognised author and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. He sought to address naturalist and realist tendencies. His works include Terra Baixa, Jesús de Nazaret and Alta Mar. In 1909 and 1911 he received homage as a member of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans, and Catalonia considered him a symbol of cultural renewal.

Terra Baixa

Terra Baixa exposes a love story full of tension and rivalry among three characters: Marta, Manelic (a shepherd) and Sebastià. Sebastià Martín, a wealthy landowner, intends to marry Marta against her will. Manelic, a humble shepherd, is willing to help Marta escape, and in the end Sebastià is overcome by hatred and envy and dies.