Buero Vallejo, Antonio

Buero Vallejo, Antonio (1916– ), Spanish dramatist, whose Historia de una escalera (Story of a Staircase, 1949), set in a tenement slum, won the Lope de Vega Prize and marked the ascendancy of social realism in the Spanish post-Civil War theatre. It was followed by a study of blind people, En la ardiente oscuridad (In the Burning Darkness, 1950). After three historical plays, including Las meniñas (The Ladies-in-Waiting, 1959), he turned to symbolism in El concierto de San Ovidio (1962) and El tragaluz (The Skylight, 1967). El sueño de la razón (The Dream of Reason, 1970) is a hallucinatory interpretation of Goya. He also wrote such overtly political plays as La doble historia del Dr Valmy (The Double Story of Dr Valmy, 1968), first performed in England because it attacked the secret police, and Jueces en la noche (Judges in the Night, 1979). Among his later plays were Diálogo secreto (1984) and Lázaro en el laberinto (1986). His work is marked by a resigned yet hopeful humanism.