Theater in Spain (1960-61): The Artist Velázquez in the Theater

THEATER IN SPAIN (1960-61) THE ARTIST VELAZQUEZ IN THE THEATER . THE MOST SUCCESSFUL AND MoST DISCUSSED WOR of the 1960-61 theabical season in Madrid was Las Meninas written by Antonio Buero Vallejo and directed by Jose Tamayo. It was first presented on the occasion of Velazquez' anniversary. This work, which is based on a famous Vel3.zquez painting, has enjoyed great success and has aroused many contradictory comments. Among these comments, which come from different sources, there is general agreement that this production, like all those of this author, is worthy. of serious consideration. We shall now attempt to do it justice not only because we have high regard for the author but also because he is the most serious and the most sophisticated of our contemporary dramatists. The comments, as we shall soon see, revolve around the possible application of a particular historical situation in the period of Philip IV to present-day Spain. Buero Vallejo achieves his goal by inventing a plot in which Velazquez himself adopts a polemical attitude which serves as a catalytic agent for the nonconformist state of mind: something like the historical conscience of his time. Let us see to what extent Buero Vallejo has erred, not in the sense of his criticism's being unjust or even disproportionate but in his choice of the historical figure who was to represent this Criticism. The Implausible Character Substantiated biographical information desCribes Velazquez' entrance into the royal palace. Ortega y Casset, in his magnificent interpretive study of the artist, attached great importance to Velazquez' position as courtier: what it meant for his peace of mind, for his independence , and for his personal reputation. His Majesty's agent for the purchase of paintings in Italy; a friend of Rubens; the Icing's traveling companion, both as his personal artist and as his aide in charge of lodging, Velazquez was spared the contemptuous treatment generally accorded in that period to intellectuals and artists. We think sadly of Cervantes' courting favor with the artistocrats and of Lope de Vega's writing his master's love notes. Nobles at that time were potential Mecenas who fulfilled a real social function, but this did not prevent degrading situations such as that reflected in the bill, found in the royal palace by Moreno Villa, in which there are included together 179 180 MODERN DRAMA September expenses for His Majesty's dwarfs, buffoons, and artists. To pass from this lowly status to knight of the Order of Santiago was a great and revolutionary social accomplishment that Velazque7 was able to achieve with his striking personality. It is, therefore, unsound to imagine, as Buero Valiejo has done, a Don Diego de Silva Velazquez as a spirit in rebellion against the State personified in his king and lord Philip IV. His independent spirit, in face of the unquestioned authority of the king, in opposing the petty palace intrigues does not jibe with a man who strove in an incredible fashion to obtain the knighthood of the Order of Santiago. In order to be admitted as a knight in the later years of his life, Velazquez asked for a most superfluous investigation which lasted from June 12, 1658 to November 28, 1659. During these seventeen months, two agents of the Order of Santiago qucslioned in different parts of Spain (Monterrey , Pazos, Verin, Sevilla, and Madrid) no fewer than 140 witnesses. As was the custom, the commission was investigating his ancestors' purity of blood; their never having practised a low or menial trade; and their knowledge of the aforesaid Diego de Silva Velazquez' ability to ride horseback. Buero's work is tendentious tmd thought-provoking. He speculates on the history of Spain and on the society of the pcriod. He is almost a new generation-of-ninety-eighter. However, the work does not ring true; it could not. Not only is Vehlzqucz' laconic speech proverbial, but thcre is a much more concrete bit of information. His library, the inventory of which was discovcred by Hodrigllcz Maxin and the contents of which have been studied repeatedly by Sanchez Canton, reveals to us a man interested only in his own profession: technical books on geometlY, architecture, the...