The case of Spain: Collective creation as political reaction

Abstract

During the Civil War years (1936–39), several currents of theatrical popular agitation—known as “emergency theatre”—developed in Spain. These movements revived the methods of Russian agitprop theatre,1 introduced in Spain by writers belonging to the Alliance of Antifascist Intellectuals, including Maria Teresa León2 and her husband, Rafael Alberti, one of the most illustrious figures in Spanish literature. Thanks to these pro-republican intellectual groups, Spanish theatre opened outward and began to engage with other forms of artistic protest. These independent creative forces, quickly reduced to silence by the victory of the Franco regime, are the origin of our collective creation.