Torquemada in the Theatre: A Glance at Government Censorship

Abstract

Although the Spanish Inquisition ceased to function formally in 1834, the spirit that made this institution a metaphor for oppression continues to exist, even if in less dramatic fashion. In the broad sense, “inquisition” may mean any strict or arbitrary suppression of persons and ideas considered unorthodox—and consequently dangerous—to the ruling powers. Spain maintains an active force for its current brand of orthodoxy and, to paraphrase George Bernard Shaw, pays dearly for that luxury by being a fourth-rate power politically and no power at all intellectually. Even sympathetic but somewhat condescending Hispanists wonder if contemporary Spanish writers can produce anything of merit in this doctrinaire and puritanical atmosphere. Others, myself among them, believe that several Spanish writers active today would enjoy international prestige were not Spain ignored or shunned due to its present form of government. Despite discrimination from abroad and the lingering shadow of Torquemada at home, a tough breed of Spanish writers, hardened by adversity, manages to write, publish, and even perform. Since theatre is the art form that relies most heavily on the cultural condition of the people, the development of postwar drama particularly has been hampered. Moreover, theatre is the only form still under the yoke of prior censorship.

The Order of the Visible and the Sayable: Theatre Censorship in Twentieth-Century Spain

“…Groundbreaking investigations of theatre censorship in Spain during the Franco dictatorship were carried out by Patricia O'Connor as early as the 1960s, encountering predictable resistance from the regime itself (O'Connor, 1966;1973), and by Manuel L. Abellán in the late 1970s and 1980s (Abellán, 1978;1989). Hans-Jörg Neuschäfer was able to benefit from more or less unrestricted access to the files in the Archivo General de la Administración (AGA) in Alcalá de Henares for his important study of literary, film, and theatre censorship during the Republic and the dictatorship (Neuschäfer, 1994).…”