Naturaleza y finalidad de lo cómico en el teatro costumbrista de Orlando Hernández desde los fundamentos teóricos de Henri Bergson

Abstract

Orlando Hernández Martín was a Canarian playwright, novelist and journalist who became very successful in the Canary Islands in the second half of the 20th century. Among his dramatic works, it is worth to mention …Y llovió en Arbejales, premiered in 1965. This costumbrista piece consists of a satire in which customs, prejudices and vices of an ill society are shown. The comical treatment of topics such as corruption in politics, emigration and the desire of the characters to escape from an oppressive situation completely meets the theoretical idea of the nature and the purpose of the comedy generated by Henri Bergson. Moreover, poetic procedures used to create comedy –in accordance with those discussed by the philosopher– can be clearly appreciated in this work, according to the philosopher.

The critical works by George Bernard Shaw, whether under the name of GBS or Corno di Bassetto, date back to far before he made his debut as a playwright, when he made a living as the most feared critic of the London press. Shaw continued practising criticism in the long prefaces that he added to his own published works, and in the countless amount of letters in which the Irish author unleashed his favourite hobby: giving his opinion on everything. This paper aims at reviewing this vast volume of material and tracking the few instances when Shaw mentioned Spanish theatre, in order to shape a general overview of Shaw’s knowledge and opinion of Spanish drama, and on how these ideas could have had an influence in his relationship towards Spain.