Alejandro Casona and Nikolai Evreinov: Life as Theater

Abstract

WHEN ALEJANDRO CASONA began writing plays in the years immediately preceding the Spanish Civil War, his concept of theater was very much in tune with the times. As Adela Palacio has noted, EI teatro poetico de Casona respondia a gustos y exigencias, no solo espafioles, sino europeos. I As part of a widespread reaction against realism and naturalism in the theater, Casona emphasized the fantasies and illusions of his characters, thus creating a double plane of reality and dream that linked his works to those of Pirandello.' The possible literary relationship between Casona and the Italian playwright has been the subject of frequent critical discussion.' Not surprisingly, however, one may also find parallels between Cason a's plays and those of other twentieth-century playwrights interested in similar themes. Some of these similarities are superficial, merely reflecting the Zeitgeist or the common impact of Pirandello, but in the case of the Russian Nikolai Evreinov, the influence on Casona may be direct. In their approach to theater, Pirandello (1867-1936) and Evreinov (1879-1953) had much in common.' Both were interested in creating a theater that destroyed the illusionism of the realistic and naturalistic stage, and both were concerned with dual and even multiple planes of illusion and reality. Moreover, the specific example of the illusionreality dichotomy that fascinated them was that of theater-life. Significantly, each of them authored a trilogy of plays that dealt with this theme' Throughout much of their careers, the two playwrights were