Post-1939 Spanish Drama: Trends, Authors, and Innovation

Spanish Theater From 1939: An Evolution

Post-War Spanish Theater: Challenges and Context

Spanish theater after 1939 was quite poor compared to foreign theater. Innovations prior to the war disappeared, and exiled writers faced significant difficulties in having their work performed in Spain. They had to overcome censorship, isolation, and commercial cultural eagerness. Theater developed at the margins of innovative trends that were succeeding abroad.

Spanish Theater in Exile: Voices Beyond Borders

Several currents can be distinguished in exile theater:

• Political or representative theater, exemplified by Rafael Alberti with works such as "El adefesio" (The Eyesore).
• Realistic theater of Max Aub, with works like "San Juan".

Alejandro Casona also stands out; he managed to create an atmosphere where reality and fantasy mixed.

Theater Within Spain: Propaganda and Evasion

Theater in Spain served two main functions: ideological propaganda and simple evasion from reality. The most represented trends were the following:

Bourgeois Comedy: Reflecting Society

This genre represented bourgeois environments with well-developed skill in plot construction and dialogue. Its themes included social customs critique, and it achieved remarkable success. Among the representatives of comedy, apart from Benavente, were José María Pemán and Juan Ignacio Luca de Tena.

Humor Theater: Absurdity and Ingenuity

Two important authors in humor theater were Enrique Jardiel Poncela and Miguel Mihura. Their humor was based on the creation of implausible situations and absurd dialogues, or dialogues governed by an unconventional logic and loaded with wit.

• Jardiel Poncela: Broke traditional forms. His works include "Eloísa está debajo de un almendro" (Eloisa Is Under an Almond Tree) and "Los ladrones somos gente honrada" (We Thieves Are Honest People).
• Miguel Mihura: Began before the war and founded a magazine called "La Codorniz." His best work is "Tres sombreros de copa" (Three Top Hats), which has a somewhat avant-garde plot. In it, expressive situations lead to a new, wild humor, an innovative way to critique society.

Existential Theater: Post-War Concerns

Existential theater emerged in the mid-1950s, reflecting the experiences and concerns of Spaniards in the post-war period.

Realistic and Committed Drama from the 1950s

With the premiere of "Historia de una escalera" (Story of a Staircase) by Antonio Buero Vallejo, a representative modality of social dramatic theater opened up. Some novelties appeared, such as the emergence of a university audience and a certain relaxation of censorship. The themes of social literature are social injustice, the state of the worker, the selfishness of the powerful, etc. The aesthetic did not abandon naturalistic realism technique. The direct and violent language is provocative.

The leading representatives are:

Antonio Buero Vallejo: A Theater of Possibility

Antonio Buero Vallejo stands for a "possible theater" with a tragic accent. His work focuses on the great questions of the human condition and the problems of contemporary man, joining the existential with the social. His work can be divided into three stages:

1. First stage (existential approach): "Historia de una escalera" (Story of a Staircase).
2. Second stage (social and ethical approach): "Las Meninas".
3. Third stage (more explicit social and political content): "La fundación" (The Foundation).

Alfonso Sastre: Theater of Unrest

Alfonso Sastre was a supporter of a "theater of unrest," with works like "Muerte en el barrio" (Death in the Neighborhood).

Experimental Theater of the 1960s: New Vanguards

Realism was surpassed, and drama assimilated experimental currents from abroad. Thus, a new theatrical vanguard, "underground theater," emerged.

• Topics: Lack of freedom, injustice, and alienation.
• Dramatic treatment: The realistic approach was discarded and replaced by symbolic and ironic approaches. Extraverbal resources were cultivated: sound, visual, etc.

Key Authors and Thematic Shifts

Authors include:

• Fernando Arrabal: "Picnic" or "El triciclo" (The Tricycle).
• Francisco Nieva: Known also as a director, with three types of theater: furious, farce or chronicle, and "estampa."

Theater groups played an important role.

Contemporary Spanish Theater: Diverse Proposals

The political and social framework has favored a dispersion of trends in the theater scene in recent decades. This includes avant-garde experiments, traditionally independent theater groups, and works addressing social problems and proposals. These and other factors contribute to a variety characterized by diverse theatrical proposals.