Galician Theatre: Postwar Development, Key Playwrights and Major Works

Galician Theatre After the Postwar Period

Galician theatre under the Franco dictatorship was marked by the suppression of cultural expression in all its forms. Even so, during the 1940s, popular choirs and amateur groups kept alive a number of activities that allowed non-conformist manifestations, many of them politically oriented toward the people. Exile also played a very important role, especially in the theatre companies that formed abroad and kept the language and its dramatic tradition alive.

The publications of texts in the 1950s were scarce, but they recovered several positive aspects, such as the demand for cultural rights and the dignity of the language. Theatre also moved toward a more popular and folkloric expression.

Three Main Lines of Development

Galician theatre of this period can be divided into three main lines:

• Theatre of the brotherhoods: rooted in customs, urban life and popular saints, often with poetic elements.
• Avant-garde theatre of the postwar period: works such as O desengano do profeta by Ramón Otero Pedrayo, O pattern do flegma by Ánxela Fol, and O fistro Valdirivo by Rafael Dieste.
• Theatre of existential anguish: at the end of the 1950s, other works appeared that reflected a moral disorientation in the world left behind by the Spanish Civil War and World War II, such as O sabor do tabernário by Manuel María.

Recent Proposals and the Revival of Theatre

During the 1960s, socioeconomic circumstances led to a revival of dramatic activity. In 1965 the first independent theatre group, Grupo Galego de Teatro, was founded, followed by the Compañía Teatral Itinerante, which sought to break with the popular public and with the bourgeois theatre of the period. Its aim was to create a scenic dialogue that would serve as a stimulus for the whole of Galician theatre.

In 1973, the cultural group of Ribadavia was founded, and in the same period several common theatre groups emerged. These groups shared a series of features: they linked theatre to social and political commitment, they made children's theatre, and they worked to develop a theatrical language that was both Galician and modern.

Manuel Lourenzo (1943): Mythical Theatre

Manuel Lourenzo returned to the theme of Greek tragedy. He reinterprets myths and situations to denounce history and to explore human behaviour and psychology, with an eye toward social change.

Notable works include Traxicomedia dos Bambás do Namorado dun Dente a Forca (1978), Fedra (1982) and Electro (1994).

In the mythological field, drawing on oral tradition, he looks toward a hope for the future. Works include Fillos de Tebas (1978).

Theatre as Theme and Subject

Some authors have focused on theatre itself as subject matter, exploring the world of the theatre, actors and directors, and their social problems and psychology. Works include Un sono dá Scena (1992).

New forms of expression have also been sought in this period.

Euloxio R. Ruibal (1945)

Ruibal's first works combine European avant-garde tendencies with a theatrical tradition rooted in Castelao, presenting a theatre of white love, commitment and social and political engagement with the country. Works include Zardigot (1973), Sinaloa e Provita, and Ruxe o sinto marcas enxebres do século da súa desaparición no Life (1989).

His Escenas do Seguro (1989) offers an anguished and desolate vision of the 1970s, while Marmi (1998) warns of the risks that current and future environmental policy faces. Buguina ou Sen da (1999) recreates two episodes from the life of Castelao.

Roberto Vidal Bolaño (1950-2003)

Roberto Vidal Bolaño sought to build a theatre that was both universal and of high quality, rooted in Galicia's past and present. Works include Laudamuco, señor de Ningures (1976), a deep analysis of the psychological mechanisms that keep power in place, and Ladaíñas mecó do gola morto (1976), a revolt against what is arbitrary and unjust.

Bailadla da credits morto (1980) reflects the integration of popular culture into dramatic and theatrical practice, while Dolentes (1997) and Traces (1998) continue his social concerns and his most provocative work.