Spanish Theater in the 20th Century: Trends and Authors
Spanish Theater in the 20th Century
The theater of the post-war period in Spain was marked by dramatists in exile, such as Alejandro Casona and Max Aub, while censorship relaxed in the 1960s. The main trends were continuous styles, benavente-influenced comedy, trivial and house-made entertainment (Lucas Tena, Pemán, Calvo Sotelo), and realist and existential drama in the 1950s (Buero Vallejo, Alfonso Sastre). The 1960s brought new techniques to the stage.
The 1940s
The 1940s were dominated by propaganda and the char regime. Works featured the construction of a city, the classification of intrigue, and laughter alternating with tears. Real problems were often ignored, and the characters belonged to the middle class. Common themes included matrimonial issues and happy endings.
Key authors:
- Pemán: historical theater (Cánovas)
- Luis Lucas Tena: psychological drama (Dos mujeres)
- Calvo Sotelo: light comedy (The Wall)
- Jardiel Poncela: timeless theater built on absurd situations with intellectual roots in disparate humor and dialogues. His characters are atypical and intellectualized.
- Miguel Mihura: a celebrated comic writer, also known for the film Tres sombreros de copa. His work combines absurd situations with existential reflection, and his humor is based on displacement and grotesque characters confronting one another.
- Alfonso Paso: able to link scenes with grace; his dialogues carry a social burden, though without much novelty.
The 1950s
Commercial theater triumphed with bourgeois melodramas and zarzuela, while critical works dealt with cutting themes: social injustice, exploitation of labor, egoism, and the powerful. Characters are often victims, influenced by Valle-Inclán and Lorca.
Antonio Buero Vallejo won awards for works such as Historia de una escalera. His features include full respect for life and liberty, the need for solitude, and open endings that require the audience to rethink solutions. His technique revitalizes commercial theater and gives it new meaning through symbolic immersion, as in El tragaluz (The Skylight), La fundación, and El sueño de la razón.
Alfonso Sastre created agitation with works such as Escuadra hacia la muerte and La mordaza. Max Aub (El rapto de Europa) and Alejandro Casona (La sirena varada, Los árboles mueren de pie) also stand out.
The 1960s
Social realism moved away from symbolism. José Martín Recuerda depicted harsh reality and Andalusian life in works such as Las arrecogías del Beaterio de Santa María Egipciaca and Los posesos. Lauro Olmo offered a grotesque, allegorical vision in La camisa. José María Rodríguez Méndez wrote Los inocentes de la Moncloa, and Antonio Gala explored frustration and solitude in Los verdes campos del Edén and El caracol en el espejo.
The 1970s
The decade brought a renovation of realism, new dramatic forms, independent theater, and influences from French theater. Theater became a spectacle, with elaborate scenery, blurred characters, and special effects.