Spanish Theater Evolution: 1940s Postwar to 1950s Realism

Spanish Theater from 1940 Onwards

Theatrical production was influenced by:

• The loss of great playwrights.
• The economic interests of employers who only sought to please the tastes of a particular audience and profit.
• The public's preference for simple and traditional theater.
• Prior censorship, which restricted the type of subject treated in drama or prevented its staging in Spanish theaters.

The Theater of the Postwar Period (1940s)

Dramatic works were characterized by their low quality and artistic mediocrity. The drama written and depicted in these early years was purely a commercial and conservative theater, with the aim of making people laugh. It is characterized by an eagerness to escape. Notable authors include Carlos Arniches, Jose Maria Peman, and Joaquin Calvo Sotelo. This period can be grouped into:

Survival of the Bourgeois Theater

The postwar years witnessed a revival of Benavente's customs and manners. Notable playwrights include Jose Maria Peman, J. Ignacio Luca de Tena, Claudio de la Torre, and Joaquin Calvo Sotelo with *The Wall*.
Features:

• It is a pleasant and fun theater.
• Presents a concern for work well done.
• There is the typical bourgeois theme of infidelity.
• Its characters tend to belong to the middle or upper classes.
• Comfortable surroundings and luxurious set design.

The Theater of Humor

This genre only sought to easily provoke laughter in the audience, full of ambiguities and puns. It was characterized by an innovative mood, based on fantasy situations and improbable plots close to the absurd. The most representative authors are Enrique Jardiel Poncela with *Eloisa Is Beneath an Almond Tree* and Miguel Mihura with *Three Top Hats*.

The Realistic Drama (1950s)

From the mid-1950s, realistic drama developed parallel to the theater of humor. Formally, it was a little more innovative and concerned about the content, message, techniques, and forms. Its characteristics are:

• Careful psychological development of characters, justifying each of their actions.
• Pursuing the public's identification with the characters whose conflicts are staged.

Notable authors include Antonio Buero Vallejo with *Historia de una Escalera* and Alfonso Sastre with *Death in the Neighborhood* (committed).