The Presence of American Drama in the Spanish Non-Professional Theatre of the 1950s

Abstract

American dramatists arrived in the Spanish theaters rather late, in the 1950s. In the beginning they were generally represented by non-professional theater groups (exemplified here by Dido Pequeño Teatro) that aimed to challenge the obsolete plays produced on the mainstream stages during Franco’s dictatorship (1939-1975). Thanks to these companies that were an alternative to the commercial theaters, Spanish audiences gradually discovered many contemporary playwrights whose plays were being staged in the rest of Europe at the time. This article focuses on three American authors who were the first significant ones to be staged in Spain: Eugene O’Neill, Tennessee Williams and the American-born T.S. Eliot, and were chosen by Dido Pequeño Teatro. This paper briefly presents the three authors and their theater, together with their success in the United States, in order to then concentrate on their first appearance in Spain. We highlight four plays that were produced by one of the most significant Spanish non-professional groups of that era, Dido Pequeño Teatro. The article then takes a closer look at how the plays were received by the critics and the general audience and analyze their success.