Post-War Spanish Theater: Trends and Key Authors

Introduction

During the Civil War, theater served as a means of political propaganda, exemplified by the Theater of the Falange and guerrilla theater. The post-war situation was catastrophic: authors like Valle-Inclán, Lorca, Muñoz Seca, Antonio Machado, and Unamuno perished; others, including Alberti, Casona, and Max Aub, went into exile; and those who remained in Spain (J. Álvarez Quintero, Arniches, Benavente, Manuel Machado, and Eduardo Marquina) saw limited premieres or ceased writing. Notably, exiled author Max Aub published San Juan in 1942, depicting a ship carrying Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazis, denied port entry. Alejandro Casona premiered "La dama del alba" in Buenos Aires (1944).

1. Theater of Consumption

1.1. The Fifties: "High" Comedy

The 1940s and 50s saw the rise of bourgeois drama, an inconsequential comedy of manners continuing Benavente's style. Themes revolved around honor, jealousy, infidelity, and generational conflicts, typically reaching a happy resolution. These plays showcased technical mastery, with well-crafted dialogues on trivial matters. Prominent authors include J. Mª. Pemán (The Widow Shipping, 1960), Claudio de la Torre, Ruiz Iriarte (1912), José López Rubio (Air Celos, 1950), and Edgar Neville (1899-1967), known for his "comedy of illusion" with its tone, elegance, and smoothness. Juan Ignacio Luca de Tena (1897-1975), with Alfonso XII, Where Are You? (1957), and Joaquín Calvo Sotelo (The Wall, The Visit Did Not Touch the Ring), also contributed with comedies of manners, psychological dramas, historical pieces, farces, and thesis-driven works. In the sixties, authors like Alfonso Paso continued this bourgeois drama tradition.

1.2. The Comedy

Two authors stand out: Enrique Jardiel Poncela (1901-1952) and Miguel Mihura (1903-1977). They innovated humor, anticipating the "theater of the absurd," employing farce, satire, and unconventional dramatic situations bordering on Surrealism.

Enrique Jardiel Poncela premiered comedies uninterruptedly from 1927 (A Spring Without Sleep), enjoying a loyal audience. Between 1939 and 1952, he wrote twenty humorous pieces. Jardiel played with originality, exploring unusual situations and characters, embracing absurdity to the detriment of traditional dramatic structure. Notable works include: Eloise Is Under an Almond Tree (1939), his masterpiece, The Thieves Are Honest People (1941), and The Inhabitants of the Empty House (1942).

Miguel Mihura was a director and writer for humor magazines, most famously Quail. In 1932, he wrote *Three Top Hats*. With absurd humor, it presented the conflict between the individual and social conventions but wasn't staged until 1952 at a TEU meeting. Mihura later transitioned to a more commercial theater, maintaining his spontaneity and unusual conflicts but deepening character development, giving them credibility and tenderness. He humanized his characters, portraying them in a stunted world stifled by useless prejudices. His notable works include Neither Poor Nor Rich But on the Contrary, The Woman's Case Asesinadita (with Álvaro de Laiglesia), A Teapot, Maribel and the Strange Family (1959), and Ninette and M. de Murcia.

2. Attempts at Renovation

Non-commercial theater saw groups like Art Nouveau (experimental theater), TEU (Spanish University Theatre), and GTR (realistic theater group), which faced financial and censorship challenges. In 1945, the Lope de Vega Prize was revived, and in 1949 it recognized a new author: Antonio Buero Vallejo for his History of the Stairs.

0.1. The Realistic Drama: Antonio Buero Vallejo's Historia de una Escalera

*History of the Stairs* is Antonio Buero Vallejo's debut work. Premiered in 1949, it offered a non-idealized version of post-war reality. Its dramatic structure, centered around the staircase of a modest house, explored the bitterness, hopes, and frustrations of a stagnant society. His production can be divided into three stages: