Other Works
Alberti was not especially interested in writing for the theatre but he managed to make a big impact with at least two plays. The first was one of the outputs of his breakdown at the end of the 20s, El hombre deshabitado ('The Empty Man', 1930). This is like a modern auto sacramental with five characters: Man with his Five Senses in allegorical reincarnation, The Maker, The Wife of Man, and Temptation, the last-named a woman who plots the downfall of both protagonists in complicity with the Senses. On the opening night, February 26, 1931, it met with a stormy reception from a sharply polarised audience.
Shortly afterwards, he began to write a ballad on the life of Fermín Galán, an army captain who had tried to launch a coup to establish a Spanish Republic in December 1930. He was executed by firing-squad. Alberti converted the ballad into a play which was performed during June 1931, again to sharply mixed reactions.
His other plays did not achieve such fame or notoriety. They include: De un momento a otro ('From One Moment to Another', 1938–39), El trébol florido ('Clover', 1940), El adefesio ('The Disaster', 1944) and Noche de guerra en el Museo del Prado ('A Night of War in the Prado Museum', 1956), as well as adaptions and other short pieces.
Read more about this topic: Rafael Alberti
Famous quotes containing the word works:
“The difference between de jure and de facto segregation is the difference open, forthright bigotry and the shamefaced kind that works through unwritten agreements between real estate dealers, school officials, and local politicians.”
—Shirley Chisholm (b. 1924)
“We all agree now—by “we” I mean intelligent people under sixty—that a work of art is like a rose. A rose is not beautiful because it is like something else. Neither is a work of art. Roses and works of art are beautiful in themselves. Unluckily, the matter does not end there: a rose is the visible result of an infinitude of complicated goings on in the bosom of the earth and in the air above, and similarly a work of art is the product of strange activities in the human mind.”
—Clive Bell (1881–1962)