Valle-Inclan in the Theatre

T HE SECOND PERIOD of ValleInclin's activity as a dramatist began in 1903.1 Its approach was indicated, if meekly, by the publication that year of Tragedia de ensuezo under the disguise of a story. This playlet casts a compassionate glance on an old woman who has survived her seven sons and their children through an ironic fate. But this work was a mere exercise showing that the writer had not totally abandoned the dramatic concept of composition. The indifference of critics to Cenizas, his first play, produced and published in 1899, coupled with the termination of his acting career after the loss of his left arm, had driven Valle-Inclin from the theatre. But, in time, he felt the necessity of contributing again to the stage; he came to recognize that the best participation for him would be as a playwright. Following his regenerated interest, he continued to frequent the theatre and to associate with its leading exponents. In addition to attending the tertulias at the Caf6 Levante in Madrid, he participated in the gatherings at the salon of the Teatro Espafiol where Maria Guerrero and Fernando Diaz de Mendoza, who headed the theatrical company, convened a select group, among them Echegaray and Sellks. Encouraged by his acceptance into this private circle, Valle-Inclin proposed to Manuel Bueno the adaptation of Lope de Vega's Fuenteovejuna. The project met with the approval of the Guerrero-Diaz de Mendoza company and the play was premiered on October 27, 1903 at the Teatro Espafiol. It was withdrawn shortly thereafter for alterations, but was returned to the repertory early in January of 1904. The delay was occasioned by the troupe's tour through Andalucia. Valle-Inclin joined the company in its excursion to witness the presentation of Andrea Doria, which he had adapted. The renewal of Valle-Inclin's active participation was indicated as well by his committal in 1904 to adapt Gald6s' Marianela for the stage,2 and in 1905 by the publication of another playlet, Comedia de ensueio, again disguised in a collection of stories. This vignette casts a bandit chieftan as Man in search of an ideal, in this case redemption, which Fate decrees must be futile

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