History of a stairway : the ills of Spanish post-war society in a play This is a theatre piece that offers a close criticism of the detrimental consecuences of the civil war in Spain. Antonio Buero Vallejo is a notable Spanish playwwright which breathed new life into Spanish post-war theatre. People will be amazed by the excellent mixture of feelings , individual and collective frustration in contrast with the want of a better future. Buero Vallejo presents a selection of characters who personifiy the demagogy , the inmobility of the system , repression and unfulfilled promises. The stairway is the reflection of this inmobility , the characters watch the days go by without achieving their goals. The sense of resignation could be easily captured by people involved in a drama of a great social content in a temporal framework where hopes, failures , lack of money and the importance of maintaining a high social status can describe the range of feelings experienced. I would say that despite the lack of motivation there is a young generation that try to make a better life , this younger generation can provide vision and hope although they know they have to work harder in order to get out of misery. There is a clear moral that can encourage people to be optimistic although there are problems that can seem unavoidable. Buero Vallejo has a desire to create tragic theatre that can symbolises social awareness in times of a considerable lack of incentive and social inequality. History of a stairway is much more than a theatre piece it is a fierce critique of injustice and appeals for people to take action and prevent social exclusion. The work was made into a film by Ignacio F. and I consider it remains quite faithful to the book.
I find post –war theatre a brilliant way to analyse a range of social, political and aesthetic concerns.