Spanish Theater History: Drama from the Civil War to Democracy

The Spanish Civil War and Theatrical Exile

The evolution of theater was profoundly determined by the Spanish Civil War and its consequences. The theatrical landscape was marked by the exile of writers and the disappearance of playwrights who died during those years.

Writers in Exile

• Max Aub
• Rafael Alberti
• Pedro Salinas

Meanwhile, exiled playwrights continued their production outside Spain.

Postwar Spanish Theater: Escape from Reality

In the postwar years, the scene was dominated by the Spanish National Theater. The two dramatic lines that triumphed on stage—bourgeois comedy and humorous drama—had as a common trait an escape from the reality of the time.

The Emergence of Realistic Social Drama (1949)

In the late forties, realistic theater burst forth with a complaint against reality. This trend was confirmed by two major premieres:

• The 1949 premiere of Historia de una escalera (History of a Stairway) by Antonio Buero Vallejo.
• The staging of Escuadra hacia la muerte (Squadron to Death) by Alfonso Sastre.

Avant-Garde and Symbolist Challenges

In the fifties, the avant-garde theater, represented by Fernando Arrabal and Francisco Nieva, emerged. This was followed in the seventies by symbolist theater (e.g., Rubial, Romero Este). These playwrights faced serious difficulties in staging their plays in Franco's Spain.

Key International Movements Shaping Modern Drama

Theater of the Absurd: Crisis of Communication

Playwrights like Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, and Arthur Adamov shared a consciousness awakened in a degraded world and the need to report it. They utilized colloquial speech, intended to express the crisis of social communication and the absurdity inherent in the human condition.

Theater of Cruelty: Antonin Artaud's Vision

Antonin Artaud led to the scene situations highlighting cruel confinement. He restored the mystical and ritual aspects of theatrical origins and sought direct contact between the spectacle and the audience. The concept of cruelty involved reconnecting with what rationality rejects.

Theatrical Landscape During the Transition to Democracy

In the seventies, theater also erupted on TV. However, the theater that truly triumphed on commercial stages was evasive, the heir to the bourgeois comedy, and totally removed from avant-garde experimentation.

Independent Theater and Bertolt Brecht's Influence

Influenced by the epic theater of Bertolt Brecht, the independent theater movement began, primarily in Catalonia. Many of these groups gradually entered the commercial theater circuits.

Post-1975: Neo-Realism and Recovery

After 1975, a neo-realist drama emerged, focusing on contemporary issues with a basically realistic aesthetic and moderate formal renewal. The establishment of democracy brought with it the recovery of Spanish authors who had been suppressed, such as Ramón María del Valle-Inclán and Federico García Lorca, authors who most influenced subsequent dramatists.