Lorca & Casona: Spanish Theater

Federico García Lorca

• Sought to refine and purify classical theater
• Created works with universal values
• Incorporated popular rhythms and forms like songs, ditties, litanies, and choruses
• Integrated avant-garde trends with traditional theater
• Focused on bringing theater closer to the general public
• Showed a predilection for female protagonists, who usually represent the yearning for freedom in a patriarchal context, with tragic outcomes
• Key themes included the clash between authority and freedom, impossible love, and the conflict between desire and freedom, leading to frustration
• Notable work is "La casa de Bernarda Alba"

Alejandro Casona

• Notable works include "La dama de Alba" and "El caballero sobre espuelas de oro"
• Works blend reality and fantasy
• Heavily influenced by folklore and popular traditions
• Contains didactics and moral messages
• Has symbolic characters
• Written with poetic and polished language
• Integrates the theme of death to create unity, such as through the character Peregrina
• Also looks at memory and oblivion
• Explores love and sacrifice as themes
• Examines the power of destiny

Antonio Buero Vallejo

• Works address the human condition
• Uses classical catharsis to move and raise awareness, making the audience reflective
• Theater had an epic nature
• Denies the existence of a blind and capricious destiny
• Presents theater that is ambiguous, polyvalent, and thought-provoking
• Features tragic undertones, building on techniques from Lorca

Antonio Buero Vallejo's Stages

• Traditional theater uses the symbol of blindness in "La ardiente oscuridad", representing human limitations whether existential or social.
• Poses questions regarding conforming to limitations or rebelling despite a lack of solutions
• Historical theater addresses the destiny of people in an unjust society and emphasizes the social dimension of the human being,
• “Las meninas” is a notable work about Velázquez
• Immersion theater allows the viewer to see reality from a character's perspective, where they become part of the representation
• Notable works are "El sueño de la razón" and "La fundación"
• Explores the themes of the struggle for freedom
• The contrast between light and darkness is a key theme
• “Ardiente oscuridad” symbolizes both physical blindness and the internal conflict of characters
• Darkness turns into a metaphor for alienation, ignorance, and repression
• The blind's desire to "see" goes beyond the physical, symbolizing a search for knowledge and self-discovery
• The acceptance of disability is important
• Generational conflict is also important
• The character Ignacio, a young blind man, challenges the director's authoritarian system, epitomizing generational clash
• Reflects the social and political tensions of post-war Spain, where young people question traditional power structures

Sanchís Sinisterra

• A notable work is “¡Ay, Carmela!”
• Explores key themes of memory and the horrors of war
• Highlights social injustices during the civil war
• Uses experimentation and metatheater
• Addresses the desire to survive
• Conveys ethical theater
• Addresses dehumanization as a result of war
• Uses humor as a defense mechanism
• Reveals ideological principles

Juan Mayorga

• Works are tragi-comedic
• Focuses on themes like family, love, fantasy, desire, or violence
• Uses theater as a place for struggle and criticism
• Some works were written before the Civil War
• Employs metatheater in his works

Juan Mayorga's Characteristics

• Philosophical and ethical reflections are included
• Has scenic simplicity
• Contains richness of language and intertextuality
• Shows social commitment

Juan Mayorga's Themes

• Examines the teacher-student relationship
• The fiction versus reality is explored
• The exploration of intimacy and the invasion of privacy
• The power of literature is a key theme