Spanish Theater Pre-Civil War: Key Figures and Works

Theater in the 20th Century Before 1936

Commercial Theater

1. Trends

1.1. Commercial Theater: No Frills

1.2. Authors and Works

• Jacinto Benavente: *The Unloved*
• Carlos Arniches: *The Chiefs*
• Serafín and Joaquín Álvarez Quintero: *The Cain Theater Renovation*

Theater Renovation

1. Features

2. Authors and Works

• Valle-Inclán: *Luces de Bohemia*
• Lorca: *Blood Wedding*

Overview: In the theater before the Civil War, there were two main trends: commercial theater and theater renovation. The commercial theater included more conventional works that catered to the public's tastes of the time, such as comedies of bourgeois atmosphere (e.g., *Autumn Roses*) and rural melodramas (e.g., *The Unloved*) by Jacinto Benavente. Modern literature included Carlos Arniches (*The Chiefs*) and the brothers Serafín and Joaquín Álvarez Quintero (*The Cain*). Two works stand out: Benavente's *Interest* and Arniches' *Miss Trevélez*. The former criticizes the hypocrisy of the bourgeois society governed by convenience and money; the latter, the idleness and immorality of the young provincial bourgeoisie, in line with the regeneration of the authors of '98.

The so-called renewal theater featured complex and innovative works, such as those by Unamuno and Azorín, and above all, the theater of Ramón del Valle-Inclán and Federico García Lorca.

Theater of Ramón del Valle-Inclán

Ramón del Valle-Inclán is the creator of a new form of theater called the grotesque. The grotesque is a distortion of reality to highlight violent and degraded environments, including the animalization and objectification of the characters. The most successful of the grotesque is *Luces de Bohemia*. In this work, Valle-Inclán offers a fierce critique of the political and social reality of Spain during that era. This allows the author to ground himself in the generation of '98.

Federico García Lorca

Federico García Lorca is the leading playwright of his generation. Lorca's work often explores the frustration and dissatisfaction that arises from the clash between two forces: a desire for freedom, fullness, and a vital eroticism, often embodied in a female character, and the reality that opposes the fulfillment of these impulses.