Freedom to Experiment: The Coherence and Complexity of Federico García Lorca’s Puppet Theater

Federico García Lorca’s appropriation of the puppet play genre reveals that at the same time he was reaching into deep roots of popular tradition, he also was seeking opportunity to innovate and break free from limitations imposed by the commercial theater scene of the first decades of the twentieth century. Tracing the trajectory of Lorca’s puppet plays reveals that, while his puppet works contain recurring story lines, actions, and characters, they display an increasing complexity. Through metatheatrical devices such as narrator figures, Lorca takes a more self-reflective stance to communicate his aesthetic preoccupations and perspectives on puppet theater.