PAU Dramatic Literature (Extremadura) cheat sheet

Canonical pre-war landmarks: Benavente's Los intereses creados (1907, commedia dell'arte masks), Valle-Inclán's Luces de bohemia (1920/1924, esperpento), García Lorca's rural trilogy - Bodas de sangre (1933), Yerma (1934), La casa de Bernarda Alba (written 1936, premiered 1945).

Post-war rupture: Buero Vallejo's Historia de una escalera (1949, Premio Lope de Vega) restores tragic conflict; Sastre's Escuadra hacia la muerte (1953) is the key 'teatro de denuncia' debut.

Experimental/underground currents of the 1960s-70s: 'teatro soterrado' - Arrabal (Picnic en el campo de batalla), Nieva (El baile), Riaza, Martínez Mediero; many premiered abroad due to censorship.

Late Buero and social theatre: El tragaluz (1967, experimento in time), La fundación (1974, shifting perspective), Las Meninas; Sastre's later works and the 'teatro de agitación'.

Democratic-era renewal: post-1975 companies and authors (Sanchis Sinisterra's ¡Ay, Carmela! 1987, Alonso de Santos' Bajarse al moro 1985, La estanquera de Vallecas 1981), realism with popular speech.

Contemporary 21st-century line: Juan Mayorga (El chico de la última fila, La lengua en pedazos), Angélica Liddell, Rodrigo García, Sergio Blanco; themes of memory (Ley de Memoria Histórica), migration, gender.

Each prescribed work should be anchored by: date of composition vs. premiere (they often differ under censorship), genre label, and the author's generation (98, 27, post-war, contemporary).

Distinguish 'alta comedia' (Benavente) from 'tragedia rural' (Lorca) from 'esperpento' (Valle-Inclán) from 'drama de denuncia' (Sastre) - examiners expect the correct label per work.

Commentary structure: (1) locate the excerpt (work, act, scene, moment in the plot); (2) formal analysis - who speaks, turn-taking, didascalias, space/time markers; (3) content - conflict, characterisation, themes; (4) interpretation - function of the passage in the whole work; (5) conclusion on style and effect.

Identify the dramatic conflict type: individual vs. society (Bernarda), individual vs. fate (Bodas de sangre), individual vs. self (Yerma), class conflict (Escuadra, Historia de una escalera).

Space analysis: distinguish 'espacio dramático' (offstage, evoked in dialogue) from 'espacio escénico' (visible set); in La casa de Bernarda Alba the house is a prison, and the street/well are offstage threats.

Time analysis: 'tiempo dramático' (fictional duration) vs. 'tiempo escénico' (performance duration) vs. 'tiempo histórico' (period evoked); note ellipses between acts (e.g., three years in Bodas de sangre).

Didascalias (stage directions): explicit (written) vs. implicit (in dialogue); note whether they are 'objetivas' (setting only) or 'subjetivas' (mood, symbol).

Character analysis axes: 'personaje redondo' vs. 'plano'; function (protagonist, antagonista, confidente, 'gracioso'); how speech register reveals class and psychology.

Verbal texture: register (popular vs. culto), verse vs. prose (Lorca's romances in Bodas de sangre vs. prose in Bernarda), rhetorical figures, silences and pauses as dramatic signs.

Beware of quoting without interpreting: every textual citation must be tied to a claim about conflict, character, or theme.

Aristotelian triad: tragedy (elevated characters, inevitable fall, catharsis), comedy (low characters, reversible conflict, laughter), tragicomedy/drama (mixed register, modern default).

Subgenres to know: auto sacramental (one-act allegory, Eucharistic), entremés (short comic interlude, Cervantes), sainete (one-act costumbrista, Arniches), esperpento (Valle-Inclán's deformación sistemática), teatro del absurdo (Ionesco, Beckett), teatro documento (Piscator/Weiss).

Conventions: aparte (audience-addressed aside), monólogo, soliloquio (alone, inner thought), 'voz en off', 'flash-back'/'flash-forward', 'teatro dentro del teatro' (metateatro).

Unity conventions: the three unities (acción, lugar, tiempo) are classical norms, not universal laws; Spanish Golden Age broke them (Lope's Arte nuevo, 1609).

Role types from commedia dell'arte and the Spanish tradition: 'galán', 'dama', 'gracioso', 'criado', 'villano'; Benavente's Los intereses creados explicitly uses masks (Leandro, Crispín, Polichinela).

Tragic vs. tragicomic endings: death (Bodas de sangre), suicide (La casa de Bernarda Alba's Adela), open ambiguity (El tragaluz), ironic reversal (¡Ay, Carmela!).

Metatheatrical markers: a play-within-a-play, direct address, characters aware of being watched, rehearsal scenes, doubling of roles - all signal 'teatro sobre teatro'.

Genre labels can shift within a work: Buero's La fundación starts as realist and becomes a 'tragedia de la esperanza' through revelation of the prison cell.

Generation of '98: crisis of 1898 (loss of Cuba, Philippines), 'regeneracionismo', preoccupation with 'España' and 'casticismo'; drama influence via Valle-Inclán (esperpento) and Benavente's social critique.

Generation of '27: avant-garde (surrealism, 'greguería'), 'teatro poético' and 'teatro de vanguardia'; Lorca, Alberti, Aleixandre, Cernuda; Lorca's 'teatro imposible' (Así que pasen cinco años, El público).

Second Republic (1931-1939): educational theatre missions (La Barraca, Misiones Pedagógicas); censorship begins with Franco's victory (1939).

Post-war (1940s-50s): 'teatro de evasión' and 'comedia de salón' vs. 'teatro de denuncia' (Buero, Sastre); Francoist censorship (Ley de Prensa 1938, revised 1966) and 'teatro soterrado' premiered abroad.

Transition to democracy (1975-1982): abolition of censorship (1977), revival of Catalan/Galician/Basque theatre, creation of Centro Dramático Nacional (1978) and Compañía Nacional de Teatro Clásico (1986).

Contemporary (1982-present): decentralisation, 'teatro de la memoria' on the Civil War and postwar repression, globalisation themes, and international festivals (Almagro, Mérida).

Historical events to name in context essays: 1898 Desastre, 1914-18 WWI, 1923 Primo de Rivera dictatorship, 1936-39 Civil War, 1939-75 Franco regime, 1978 Constitution.

Avoid anachronism: do not apply 21st-century gender/queer readings to Lorca without noting the historical distance; frame as 'lectura actual' not as authorial intention.

Dialogue functions: advancing plot ('diálogo de acción'), revealing character ('diálogo de caracterización'), and creating atmosphere; note turn-taking, interruptions, silences, and use of 'tú/usted' as social signifier.

Monologue vs. soliloquy: monologue = extended speech with others present; soliloquy = alone, convention of inner thought; both are 'convenciones' the audience accepts.

Didascalias: explicit stage directions (setting, movement, tone) vs. implicit cues embedded in dialogue; note whether they are 'objetivas' or 'subjetivas' (mood, symbol).

Dramatic irony: audience knows what a character does not (e.g., the audience sees the 'fundación' as prison in Buero's La fundación before the characters do); distinguish from 'ironía verbal' (saying the opposite).

Metatheatre markers: play-within-a-play, direct address, character aware of audience, rehearsal scenes, doubling; Valle-Inclán's esperpento uses 'espejos cóncavos' as a metatheatrical metaphor.

Symbolic stagecraft: Lorca's colours (green = fertility/death in Bodas de sangre; white/black in Bernarda), objects (knife, horse, well), and offstage sounds (bells, songs) as dramatic language.

Silence as sign: pauses ('silencio', 'pausa') can mark repression (Bernarda) or unspoken desire (Yerma); count them when analysing an excerpt.

Register and idiolect: each character's speech (popular, culto, coloquial, vulgar) reveals class, education, and power - a key tool in commentary.

Essay structure for commentary: introduction (work, excerpt, thesis), development (formal analysis → content → interpretation), conclusion (function of the passage, style); each paragraph = one idea.

Cohesion devices: connectors of addition ('además', 'asimismo'), contrast ('sin embargo', 'no obstante'), cause ('porque', 'puesto que'), consequence ('por consiguiente', 'de ahí que'), and exemplification ('así', 'por ejemplo').

Coherence rules: consistent thesis, logical progression, no plot summary without analysis, every quotation tied to a claim.

Correctness checklist: agreement (sujeto-verbo), tense consistency in literary present ('Bernarda exige', not 'exigió' when analysing), accent rules (agudas/llanas/esdrújulas), and 'queísmo/dequeísmo'.

Register: use 'se' impersonal ('se observa', 'se aprecia') and 'nos' inclusive; avoid colloquialisms ('un montón de', 'cosa') in academic prose.

Quotation conventions: cite with page/act/scene, use ellipsis '[...]' for cuts, and integrate quotations grammatically into your own syntax.

Punctuation for drama analysis: use 'comillas' for titles of short works and 'cursiva' for book/play titles; separate acts with commas, not full stops, when listing.

Common errors to avoid: 'de que' after 'pienso' (correct: 'pienso que'), 'haber' vs. 'a ver', 'porqué/porque/por qué', and 'sino' vs. 'si no'.

Canonical pre-war landmarks: Benavente's Los intereses creados (1907, commedia dell'arte masks), Valle-Inclán's Luces de bohemia (1920/1924, esperpento), García Lorca's rural trilogy - Bodas de sangre (1933), Yerma (1934), La casa de Bernarda Alba (written 1936, premiered 1945).

Post-war rupture: Buero Vallejo's Historia de una escalera (1949, Premio Lope de Vega) restores tragic conflict; Sastre's Escuadra hacia la muerte (1953) is the key 'teatro de denuncia' debut.

Experimental/underground currents of the 1960s-70s: 'teatro soterrado' - Arrabal (Picnic en el campo de batalla), Nieva (El baile), Riaza, Martínez Mediero; many premiered abroad due to censorship.

Late Buero and social theatre: El tragaluz (1967, experimento in time), La fundación (1974, shifting perspective), Las Meninas; Sastre's later works and the 'teatro de agitación'.

Democratic-era renewal: post-1975 companies and authors (Sanchis Sinisterra's ¡Ay, Carmela! 1987, Alonso de Santos' Bajarse al moro 1985, La estanquera de Vallecas 1981), realism with popular speech.

Contemporary 21st-century line: Juan Mayorga (El chico de la última fila, La lengua en pedazos), Angélica Liddell, Rodrigo García, Sergio Blanco; themes of memory (Ley de Memoria Histórica), migration, gender.

Each prescribed work should be anchored by: date of composition vs. premiere (they often differ under censorship), genre label, and the author's generation (98, 27, post-war, contemporary).

Distinguish 'alta comedia' (Benavente) from 'tragedia rural' (Lorca) from 'esperpento' (Valle-Inclán) from 'drama de denuncia' (Sastre) - examiners expect the correct label per work.

Commentary structure: (1) locate the excerpt (work, act, scene, moment in the plot); (2) formal analysis - who speaks, turn-taking, didascalias, space/time markers; (3) content - conflict, characterisation, themes; (4) interpretation - function of the passage in the whole work; (5) conclusion on style and effect.

Identify the dramatic conflict type: individual vs. society (Bernarda), individual vs. fate (Bodas de sangre), individual vs. self (Yerma), class conflict (Escuadra, Historia de una escalera).

Space analysis: distinguish 'espacio dramático' (offstage, evoked in dialogue) from 'espacio escénico' (visible set); in La casa de Bernarda Alba the house is a prison, and the street/well are offstage threats.

Time analysis: 'tiempo dramático' (fictional duration) vs. 'tiempo escénico' (performance duration) vs. 'tiempo histórico' (period evoked); note ellipses between acts (e.g., three years in Bodas de sangre).

Didascalias (stage directions): explicit (written) vs. implicit (in dialogue); note whether they are 'objetivas' (setting only) or 'subjetivas' (mood, symbol).

Character analysis axes: 'personaje redondo' vs. 'plano'; function (protagonist, antagonista, confidente, 'gracioso'); how speech register reveals class and psychology.

Verbal texture: register (popular vs. culto), verse vs. prose (Lorca's romances in Bodas de sangre vs. prose in Bernarda), rhetorical figures, silences and pauses as dramatic signs.

Beware of quoting without interpreting: every textual citation must be tied to a claim about conflict, character, or theme.

Aristotelian triad: tragedy (elevated characters, inevitable fall, catharsis), comedy (low characters, reversible conflict, laughter), tragicomedy/drama (mixed register, modern default).

Subgenres to know: auto sacramental (one-act allegory, Eucharistic), entremés (short comic interlude, Cervantes), sainete (one-act costumbrista, Arniches), esperpento (Valle-Inclán's deformación sistemática), teatro del absurdo (Ionesco, Beckett), teatro documento (Piscator/Weiss).

Conventions: aparte (audience-addressed aside), monólogo, soliloquio (alone, inner thought), 'voz en off', 'flash-back'/'flash-forward', 'teatro dentro del teatro' (metateatro).

Unity conventions: the three unities (acción, lugar, tiempo) are classical norms, not universal laws; Spanish Golden Age broke them (Lope's Arte nuevo, 1609).

Role types from commedia dell'arte and the Spanish tradition: 'galán', 'dama', 'gracioso', 'criado', 'villano'; Benavente's Los intereses creados explicitly uses masks (Leandro, Crispín, Polichinela).

Tragic vs. tragicomic endings: death (Bodas de sangre), suicide (La casa de Bernarda Alba's Adela), open ambiguity (El tragaluz), ironic reversal (¡Ay, Carmela!).

Metatheatrical markers: a play-within-a-play, direct address, characters aware of being watched, rehearsal scenes, doubling of roles - all signal 'teatro sobre teatro'.

Genre labels can shift within a work: Buero's La fundación starts as realist and becomes a 'tragedia de la esperanza' through revelation of the prison cell.

Generation of '98: crisis of 1898 (loss of Cuba, Philippines), 'regeneracionismo', preoccupation with 'España' and 'casticismo'; drama influence via Valle-Inclán (esperpento) and Benavente's social critique.

Generation of '27: avant-garde (surrealism, 'greguería'), 'teatro poético' and 'teatro de vanguardia'; Lorca, Alberti, Aleixandre, Cernuda; Lorca's 'teatro imposible' (Así que pasen cinco años, El público).

Second Republic (1931-1939): educational theatre missions (La Barraca, Misiones Pedagógicas); censorship begins with Franco's victory (1939).

Post-war (1940s-50s): 'teatro de evasión' and 'comedia de salón' vs. 'teatro de denuncia' (Buero, Sastre); Francoist censorship (Ley de Prensa 1938, revised 1966) and 'teatro soterrado' premiered abroad.

Transition to democracy (1975-1982): abolition of censorship (1977), revival of Catalan/Galician/Basque theatre, creation of Centro Dramático Nacional (1978) and Compañía Nacional de Teatro Clásico (1986).

Contemporary (1982-present): decentralisation, 'teatro de la memoria' on the Civil War and postwar repression, globalisation themes, and international festivals (Almagro, Mérida).

Historical events to name in context essays: 1898 Desastre, 1914-18 WWI, 1923 Primo de Rivera dictatorship, 1936-39 Civil War, 1939-75 Franco regime, 1978 Constitution.

Avoid anachronism: do not apply 21st-century gender/queer readings to Lorca without noting the historical distance; frame as 'lectura actual' not as authorial intention.

Dialogue functions: advancing plot ('diálogo de acción'), revealing character ('diálogo de caracterización'), and creating atmosphere; note turn-taking, interruptions, silences, and use of 'tú/usted' as social signifier.

Monologue vs. soliloquy: monologue = extended speech with others present; soliloquy = alone, convention of inner thought; both are 'convenciones' the audience accepts.

Didascalias: explicit stage directions (setting, movement, tone) vs. implicit cues embedded in dialogue; note whether they are 'objetivas' or 'subjetivas' (mood, symbol).

Dramatic irony: audience knows what a character does not (e.g., the audience sees the 'fundación' as prison in Buero's La fundación before the characters do); distinguish from 'ironía verbal' (saying the opposite).

Metatheatre markers: play-within-a-play, direct address, character aware of audience, rehearsal scenes, doubling; Valle-Inclán's esperpento uses 'espejos cóncavos' as a metatheatrical metaphor.

Symbolic stagecraft: Lorca's colours (green = fertility/death in Bodas de sangre; white/black in Bernarda), objects (knife, horse, well), and offstage sounds (bells, songs) as dramatic language.

Silence as sign: pauses ('silencio', 'pausa') can mark repression (Bernarda) or unspoken desire (Yerma); count them when analysing an excerpt.

Register and idiolect: each character's speech (popular, culto, coloquial, vulgar) reveals class, education, and power - a key tool in commentary.

Essay structure for commentary: introduction (work, excerpt, thesis), development (formal analysis → content → interpretation), conclusion (function of the passage, style); each paragraph = one idea.

Cohesion devices: connectors of addition ('además', 'asimismo'), contrast ('sin embargo', 'no obstante'), cause ('porque', 'puesto que'), consequence ('por consiguiente', 'de ahí que'), and exemplification ('así', 'por ejemplo').

Coherence rules: consistent thesis, logical progression, no plot summary without analysis, every quotation tied to a claim.

Correctness checklist: agreement (sujeto-verbo), tense consistency in literary present ('Bernarda exige', not 'exigió' when analysing), accent rules (agudas/llanas/esdrújulas), and 'queísmo/dequeísmo'.

Register: use 'se' impersonal ('se observa', 'se aprecia') and 'nos' inclusive; avoid colloquialisms ('un montón de', 'cosa') in academic prose.

Quotation conventions: cite with page/act/scene, use ellipsis '[...]' for cuts, and integrate quotations grammatically into your own syntax.

Punctuation for drama analysis: use 'comillas' for titles of short works and 'cursiva' for book/play titles; separate acts with commas, not full stops, when listing.

Common errors to avoid: 'de que' after 'pienso' (correct: 'pienso que'), 'haber' vs. 'a ver', 'porqué/porque/por qué', and 'sino' vs. 'si no'.

Canonical pre-war landmarks: Benavente's Los intereses creados (1907, commedia dell'arte masks), Valle-Inclán's Luces de bohemia (1920/1924, esperpento), García Lorca's rural trilogy - Bodas de sangre (1933), Yerma (1934), La casa de Bernarda Alba (written 1936, premiered 1945).

Post-war rupture: Buero Vallejo's Historia de una escalera (1949, Premio Lope de Vega) restores tragic conflict; Sastre's Escuadra hacia la muerte (1953) is the key 'teatro de denuncia' debut.

Experimental/underground currents of the 1960s-70s: 'teatro soterrado' - Arrabal (Picnic en el campo de batalla), Nieva (El baile), Riaza, Martínez Mediero; many premiered abroad due to censorship.

Late Buero and social theatre: El tragaluz (1967, experimento in time), La fundación (1974, shifting perspective), Las Meninas; Sastre's later works and the 'teatro de agitación'.

Democratic-era renewal: post-1975 companies and authors (Sanchis Sinisterra's ¡Ay, Carmela! 1987, Alonso de Santos' Bajarse al moro 1985, La estanquera de Vallecas 1981), realism with popular speech.

Contemporary 21st-century line: Juan Mayorga (El chico de la última fila, La lengua en pedazos), Angélica Liddell, Rodrigo García, Sergio Blanco; themes of memory (Ley de Memoria Histórica), migration, gender.

Each prescribed work should be anchored by: date of composition vs. premiere (they often differ under censorship), genre label, and the author's generation (98, 27, post-war, contemporary).

Distinguish 'alta comedia' (Benavente) from 'tragedia rural' (Lorca) from 'esperpento' (Valle-Inclán) from 'drama de denuncia' (Sastre) - examiners expect the correct label per work.

Commentary structure: (1) locate the excerpt (work, act, scene, moment in the plot); (2) formal analysis - who speaks, turn-taking, didascalias, space/time markers; (3) content - conflict, characterisation, themes; (4) interpretation - function of the passage in the whole work; (5) conclusion on style and effect.

Identify the dramatic conflict type: individual vs. society (Bernarda), individual vs. fate (Bodas de sangre), individual vs. self (Yerma), class conflict (Escuadra, Historia de una escalera).

Space analysis: distinguish 'espacio dramático' (offstage, evoked in dialogue) from 'espacio escénico' (visible set); in La casa de Bernarda Alba the house is a prison, and the street/well are offstage threats.

Time analysis: 'tiempo dramático' (fictional duration) vs. 'tiempo escénico' (performance duration) vs. 'tiempo histórico' (period evoked); note ellipses between acts (e.g., three years in Bodas de sangre).

Didascalias (stage directions): explicit (written) vs. implicit (in dialogue); note whether they are 'objetivas' (setting only) or 'subjetivas' (mood, symbol).

Character analysis axes: 'personaje redondo' vs. 'plano'; function (protagonist, antagonista, confidente, 'gracioso'); how speech register reveals class and psychology.

Verbal texture: register (popular vs. culto), verse vs. prose (Lorca's romances in Bodas de sangre vs. prose in Bernarda), rhetorical figures, silences and pauses as dramatic signs.

Beware of quoting without interpreting: every textual citation must be tied to a claim about conflict, character, or theme.

Aristotelian triad: tragedy (elevated characters, inevitable fall, catharsis), comedy (low characters, reversible conflict, laughter), tragicomedy/drama (mixed register, modern default).

Subgenres to know: auto sacramental (one-act allegory, Eucharistic), entremés (short comic interlude, Cervantes), sainete (one-act costumbrista, Arniches), esperpento (Valle-Inclán's deformación sistemática), teatro del absurdo (Ionesco, Beckett), teatro documento (Piscator/Weiss).

Conventions: aparte (audience-addressed aside), monólogo, soliloquio (alone, inner thought), 'voz en off', 'flash-back'/'flash-forward', 'teatro dentro del teatro' (metateatro).

Unity conventions: the three unities (acción, lugar, tiempo) are classical norms, not universal laws; Spanish Golden Age broke them (Lope's Arte nuevo, 1609).

Role types from commedia dell'arte and the Spanish tradition: 'galán', 'dama', 'gracioso', 'criado', 'villano'; Benavente's Los intereses creados explicitly uses masks (Leandro, Crispín, Polichinela).

Tragic vs. tragicomic endings: death (Bodas de sangre), suicide (La casa de Bernarda Alba's Adela), open ambiguity (El tragaluz), ironic reversal (¡Ay, Carmela!).

Metatheatrical markers: a play-within-a-play, direct address, characters aware of being watched, rehearsal scenes, doubling of roles - all signal 'teatro sobre teatro'.

Genre labels can shift within a work: Buero's La fundación starts as realist and becomes a 'tragedia de la esperanza' through revelation of the prison cell.

Generation of '98: crisis of 1898 (loss of Cuba, Philippines), 'regeneracionismo', preoccupation with 'España' and 'casticismo'; drama influence via Valle-Inclán (esperpento) and Benavente's social critique.

Generation of '27: avant-garde (surrealism, 'greguería'), 'teatro poético' and 'teatro de vanguardia'; Lorca, Alberti, Aleixandre, Cernuda; Lorca's 'teatro imposible' (Así que pasen cinco años, El público).

Second Republic (1931-1939): educational theatre missions (La Barraca, Misiones Pedagógicas); censorship begins with Franco's victory (1939).

Post-war (1940s-50s): 'teatro de evasión' and 'comedia de salón' vs. 'teatro de denuncia' (Buero, Sastre); Francoist censorship (Ley de Prensa 1938, revised 1966) and 'teatro soterrado' premiered abroad.

Transition to democracy (1975-1982): abolition of censorship (1977), revival of Catalan/Galician/Basque theatre, creation of Centro Dramático Nacional (1978) and Compañía Nacional de Teatro Clásico (1986).

Contemporary (1982-present): decentralisation, 'teatro de la memoria' on the Civil War and postwar repression, globalisation themes, and international festivals (Almagro, Mérida).

Historical events to name in context essays: 1898 Desastre, 1914-18 WWI, 1923 Primo de Rivera dictatorship, 1936-39 Civil War, 1939-75 Franco regime, 1978 Constitution.

Avoid anachronism: do not apply 21st-century gender/queer readings to Lorca without noting the historical distance; frame as 'lectura actual' not as authorial intention.

Dialogue functions: advancing plot ('diálogo de acción'), revealing character ('diálogo de caracterización'), and creating atmosphere; note turn-taking, interruptions, silences, and use of 'tú/usted' as social signifier.

Monologue vs. soliloquy: monologue = extended speech with others present; soliloquy = alone, convention of inner thought; both are 'convenciones' the audience accepts.

Didascalias: explicit stage directions (setting, movement, tone) vs. implicit cues embedded in dialogue; note whether they are 'objetivas' or 'subjetivas' (mood, symbol).

Dramatic irony: audience knows what a character does not (e.g., the audience sees the 'fundación' as prison in Buero's La fundación before the characters do); distinguish from 'ironía verbal' (saying the opposite).

Metatheatre markers: play-within-a-play, direct address, character aware of audience, rehearsal scenes, doubling; Valle-Inclán's esperpento uses 'espejos cóncavos' as a metatheatrical metaphor.

Symbolic stagecraft: Lorca's colours (green = fertility/death in Bodas de sangre; white/black in Bernarda), objects (knife, horse, well), and offstage sounds (bells, songs) as dramatic language.

Silence as sign: pauses ('silencio', 'pausa') can mark repression (Bernarda) or unspoken desire (Yerma); count them when analysing an excerpt.

Register and idiolect: each character's speech (popular, culto, coloquial, vulgar) reveals class, education, and power - a key tool in commentary.

Essay structure for commentary: introduction (work, excerpt, thesis), development (formal analysis → content → interpretation), conclusion (function of the passage, style); each paragraph = one idea.

Cohesion devices: connectors of addition ('además', 'asimismo'), contrast ('sin embargo', 'no obstante'), cause ('porque', 'puesto que'), consequence ('por consiguiente', 'de ahí que'), and exemplification ('así', 'por ejemplo').

Coherence rules: consistent thesis, logical progression, no plot summary without analysis, every quotation tied to a claim.

Correctness checklist: agreement (sujeto-verbo), tense consistency in literary present ('Bernarda exige', not 'exigió' when analysing), accent rules (agudas/llanas/esdrújulas), and 'queísmo/dequeísmo'.

Register: use 'se' impersonal ('se observa', 'se aprecia') and 'nos' inclusive; avoid colloquialisms ('un montón de', 'cosa') in academic prose.

Quotation conventions: cite with page/act/scene, use ellipsis '[...]' for cuts, and integrate quotations grammatically into your own syntax.

Punctuation for drama analysis: use 'comillas' for titles of short works and 'cursiva' for book/play titles; separate acts with commas, not full stops, when listing.

Common errors to avoid: 'de que' after 'pienso' (correct: 'pienso que'), 'haber' vs. 'a ver', 'porqué/porque/por qué', and 'sino' vs. 'si no'.

Canonical pre-war landmarks: Benavente's Los intereses creados (1907, commedia dell'arte masks), Valle-Inclán's Luces de bohemia (1920/1924, esperpento), García Lorca's rural trilogy - Bodas de sangre (1933), Yerma (1934), La casa de Bernarda Alba (written 1936, premiered 1945).

Post-war rupture: Buero Vallejo's Historia de una escalera (1949, Premio Lope de Vega) restores tragic conflict; Sastre's Escuadra hacia la muerte (1953) is the key 'teatro de denuncia' debut.

Experimental/underground currents of the 1960s-70s: 'teatro soterrado' - Arrabal (Picnic en el campo de batalla), Nieva (El baile), Riaza, Martínez Mediero; many premiered abroad due to censorship.

Late Buero and social theatre: El tragaluz (1967, experimento in time), La fundación (1974, shifting perspective), Las Meninas; Sastre's later works and the 'teatro de agitación'.

Democratic-era renewal: post-1975 companies and authors (Sanchis Sinisterra's ¡Ay, Carmela! 1987, Alonso de Santos' Bajarse al moro 1985, La estanquera de Vallecas 1981), realism with popular speech.

Contemporary 21st-century line: Juan Mayorga (El chico de la última fila, La lengua en pedazos), Angélica Liddell, Rodrigo García, Sergio Blanco; themes of memory (Ley de Memoria Histórica), migration, gender.

Each prescribed work should be anchored by: date of composition vs. premiere (they often differ under censorship), genre label, and the author's generation (98, 27, post-war, contemporary).

Distinguish 'alta comedia' (Benavente) from 'tragedia rural' (Lorca) from 'esperpento' (Valle-Inclán) from 'drama de denuncia' (Sastre) - examiners expect the correct label per work.

Commentary structure: (1) locate the excerpt (work, act, scene, moment in the plot); (2) formal analysis - who speaks, turn-taking, didascalias, space/time markers; (3) content - conflict, characterisation, themes; (4) interpretation - function of the passage in the whole work; (5) conclusion on style and effect.

Identify the dramatic conflict type: individual vs. society (Bernarda), individual vs. fate (Bodas de sangre), individual vs. self (Yerma), class conflict (Escuadra, Historia de una escalera).

Space analysis: distinguish 'espacio dramático' (offstage, evoked in dialogue) from 'espacio escénico' (visible set); in La casa de Bernarda Alba the house is a prison, and the street/well are offstage threats.

Time analysis: 'tiempo dramático' (fictional duration) vs. 'tiempo escénico' (performance duration) vs. 'tiempo histórico' (period evoked); note ellipses between acts (e.g., three years in Bodas de sangre).

Didascalias (stage directions): explicit (written) vs. implicit (in dialogue); note whether they are 'objetivas' (setting only) or 'subjetivas' (mood, symbol).

Character analysis axes: 'personaje redondo' vs. 'plano'; function (protagonist, antagonista, confidente, 'gracioso'); how speech register reveals class and psychology.

Verbal texture: register (popular vs. culto), verse vs. prose (Lorca's romances in Bodas de sangre vs. prose in Bernarda), rhetorical figures, silences and pauses as dramatic signs.

Beware of quoting without interpreting: every textual citation must be tied to a claim about conflict, character, or theme.

Aristotelian triad: tragedy (elevated characters, inevitable fall, catharsis), comedy (low characters, reversible conflict, laughter), tragicomedy/drama (mixed register, modern default).

Subgenres to know: auto sacramental (one-act allegory, Eucharistic), entremés (short comic interlude, Cervantes), sainete (one-act costumbrista, Arniches), esperpento (Valle-Inclán's deformación sistemática), teatro del absurdo (Ionesco, Beckett), teatro documento (Piscator/Weiss).

Conventions: aparte (audience-addressed aside), monólogo, soliloquio (alone, inner thought), 'voz en off', 'flash-back'/'flash-forward', 'teatro dentro del teatro' (metateatro).

Unity conventions: the three unities (acción, lugar, tiempo) are classical norms, not universal laws; Spanish Golden Age broke them (Lope's Arte nuevo, 1609).

Role types from commedia dell'arte and the Spanish tradition: 'galán', 'dama', 'gracioso', 'criado', 'villano'; Benavente's Los intereses creados explicitly uses masks (Leandro, Crispín, Polichinela).

Tragic vs. tragicomic endings: death (Bodas de sangre), suicide (La casa de Bernarda Alba's Adela), open ambiguity (El tragaluz), ironic reversal (¡Ay, Carmela!).

Metatheatrical markers: a play-within-a-play, direct address, characters aware of being watched, rehearsal scenes, doubling of roles - all signal 'teatro sobre teatro'.

Genre labels can shift within a work: Buero's La fundación starts as realist and becomes a 'tragedia de la esperanza' through revelation of the prison cell.

Generation of '98: crisis of 1898 (loss of Cuba, Philippines), 'regeneracionismo', preoccupation with 'España' and 'casticismo'; drama influence via Valle-Inclán (esperpento) and Benavente's social critique.

Generation of '27: avant-garde (surrealism, 'greguería'), 'teatro poético' and 'teatro de vanguardia'; Lorca, Alberti, Aleixandre, Cernuda; Lorca's 'teatro imposible' (Así que pasen cinco años, El público).

Second Republic (1931-1939): educational theatre missions (La Barraca, Misiones Pedagógicas); censorship begins with Franco's victory (1939).

Post-war (1940s-50s): 'teatro de evasión' and 'comedia de salón' vs. 'teatro de denuncia' (Buero, Sastre); Francoist censorship (Ley de Prensa 1938, revised 1966) and 'teatro soterrado' premiered abroad.

Transition to democracy (1975-1982): abolition of censorship (1977), revival of Catalan/Galician/Basque theatre, creation of Centro Dramático Nacional (1978) and Compañía Nacional de Teatro Clásico (1986).

Contemporary (1982-present): decentralisation, 'teatro de la memoria' on the Civil War and postwar repression, globalisation themes, and international festivals (Almagro, Mérida).

Historical events to name in context essays: 1898 Desastre, 1914-18 WWI, 1923 Primo de Rivera dictatorship, 1936-39 Civil War, 1939-75 Franco regime, 1978 Constitution.

Avoid anachronism: do not apply 21st-century gender/queer readings to Lorca without noting the historical distance; frame as 'lectura actual' not as authorial intention.

Dialogue functions: advancing plot ('diálogo de acción'), revealing character ('diálogo de caracterización'), and creating atmosphere; note turn-taking, interruptions, silences, and use of 'tú/usted' as social signifier.

Monologue vs. soliloquy: monologue = extended speech with others present; soliloquy = alone, convention of inner thought; both are 'convenciones' the audience accepts.

Didascalias: explicit stage directions (setting, movement, tone) vs. implicit cues embedded in dialogue; note whether they are 'objetivas' or 'subjetivas' (mood, symbol).

Dramatic irony: audience knows what a character does not (e.g., the audience sees the 'fundación' as prison in Buero's La fundación before the characters do); distinguish from 'ironía verbal' (saying the opposite).

Metatheatre markers: play-within-a-play, direct address, character aware of audience, rehearsal scenes, doubling; Valle-Inclán's esperpento uses 'espejos cóncavos' as a metatheatrical metaphor.

Symbolic stagecraft: Lorca's colours (green = fertility/death in Bodas de sangre; white/black in Bernarda), objects (knife, horse, well), and offstage sounds (bells, songs) as dramatic language.

Silence as sign: pauses ('silencio', 'pausa') can mark repression (Bernarda) or unspoken desire (Yerma); count them when analysing an excerpt.

Register and idiolect: each character's speech (popular, culto, coloquial, vulgar) reveals class, education, and power - a key tool in commentary.

Essay structure for commentary: introduction (work, excerpt, thesis), development (formal analysis → content → interpretation), conclusion (function of the passage, style); each paragraph = one idea.

Cohesion devices: connectors of addition ('además', 'asimismo'), contrast ('sin embargo', 'no obstante'), cause ('porque', 'puesto que'), consequence ('por consiguiente', 'de ahí que'), and exemplification ('así', 'por ejemplo').

Coherence rules: consistent thesis, logical progression, no plot summary without analysis, every quotation tied to a claim.

Correctness checklist: agreement (sujeto-verbo), tense consistency in literary present ('Bernarda exige', not 'exigió' when analysing), accent rules (agudas/llanas/esdrújulas), and 'queísmo/dequeísmo'.

Register: use 'se' impersonal ('se observa', 'se aprecia') and 'nos' inclusive; avoid colloquialisms ('un montón de', 'cosa') in academic prose.

Quotation conventions: cite with page/act/scene, use ellipsis '[...]' for cuts, and integrate quotations grammatically into your own syntax.

Punctuation for drama analysis: use 'comillas' for titles of short works and 'cursiva' for book/play titles; separate acts with commas, not full stops, when listing.

Common errors to avoid: 'de que' after 'pienso' (correct: 'pienso que'), 'haber' vs. 'a ver', 'porqué/porque/por qué', and 'sino' vs. 'si no'.

Canonical pre-war landmarks: Benavente's Los intereses creados (1907, commedia dell'arte masks), Valle-Inclán's Luces de bohemia (1920/1924, esperpento), García Lorca's rural trilogy - Bodas de sangre (1933), Yerma (1934), La casa de Bernarda Alba (written 1936, premiered 1945).

Post-war rupture: Buero Vallejo's Historia de una escalera (1949, Premio Lope de Vega) restores tragic conflict; Sastre's Escuadra hacia la muerte (1953) is the key 'teatro de denuncia' debut.

Experimental/underground currents of the 1960s-70s: 'teatro soterrado' - Arrabal (Picnic en el campo de batalla), Nieva (El baile), Riaza, Martínez Mediero; many premiered abroad due to censorship.

Late Buero and social theatre: El tragaluz (1967, experimento in time), La fundación (1974, shifting perspective), Las Meninas; Sastre's later works and the 'teatro de agitación'.

Democratic-era renewal: post-1975 companies and authors (Sanchis Sinisterra's ¡Ay, Carmela! 1987, Alonso de Santos' Bajarse al moro 1985, La estanquera de Vallecas 1981), realism with popular speech.

Contemporary 21st-century line: Juan Mayorga (El chico de la última fila, La lengua en pedazos), Angélica Liddell, Rodrigo García, Sergio Blanco; themes of memory (Ley de Memoria Histórica), migration, gender.

Each prescribed work should be anchored by: date of composition vs. premiere (they often differ under censorship), genre label, and the author's generation (98, 27, post-war, contemporary).

Distinguish 'alta comedia' (Benavente) from 'tragedia rural' (Lorca) from 'esperpento' (Valle-Inclán) from 'drama de denuncia' (Sastre) - examiners expect the correct label per work.

Commentary structure: (1) locate the excerpt (work, act, scene, moment in the plot); (2) formal analysis - who speaks, turn-taking, didascalias, space/time markers; (3) content - conflict, characterisation, themes; (4) interpretation - function of the passage in the whole work; (5) conclusion on style and effect.

Identify the dramatic conflict type: individual vs. society (Bernarda), individual vs. fate (Bodas de sangre), individual vs. self (Yerma), class conflict (Escuadra, Historia de una escalera).

Space analysis: distinguish 'espacio dramático' (offstage, evoked in dialogue) from 'espacio escénico' (visible set); in La casa de Bernarda Alba the house is a prison, and the street/well are offstage threats.

Time analysis: 'tiempo dramático' (fictional duration) vs. 'tiempo escénico' (performance duration) vs. 'tiempo histórico' (period evoked); note ellipses between acts (e.g., three years in Bodas de sangre).

Didascalias (stage directions): explicit (written) vs. implicit (in dialogue); note whether they are 'objetivas' (setting only) or 'subjetivas' (mood, symbol).

Character analysis axes: 'personaje redondo' vs. 'plano'; function (protagonist, antagonista, confidente, 'gracioso'); how speech register reveals class and psychology.

Verbal texture: register (popular vs. culto), verse vs. prose (Lorca's romances in Bodas de sangre vs. prose in Bernarda), rhetorical figures, silences and pauses as dramatic signs.

Beware of quoting without interpreting: every textual citation must be tied to a claim about conflict, character, or theme.

Aristotelian triad: tragedy (elevated characters, inevitable fall, catharsis), comedy (low characters, reversible conflict, laughter), tragicomedy/drama (mixed register, modern default).

Subgenres to know: auto sacramental (one-act allegory, Eucharistic), entremés (short comic interlude, Cervantes), sainete (one-act costumbrista, Arniches), esperpento (Valle-Inclán's deformación sistemática), teatro del absurdo (Ionesco, Beckett), teatro documento (Piscator/Weiss).

Conventions: aparte (audience-addressed aside), monólogo, soliloquio (alone, inner thought), 'voz en off', 'flash-back'/'flash-forward', 'teatro dentro del teatro' (metateatro).

Unity conventions: the three unities (acción, lugar, tiempo) are classical norms, not universal laws; Spanish Golden Age broke them (Lope's Arte nuevo, 1609).

Role types from commedia dell'arte and the Spanish tradition: 'galán', 'dama', 'gracioso', 'criado', 'villano'; Benavente's Los intereses creados explicitly uses masks (Leandro, Crispín, Polichinela).

Tragic vs. tragicomic endings: death (Bodas de sangre), suicide (La casa de Bernarda Alba's Adela), open ambiguity (El tragaluz), ironic reversal (¡Ay, Carmela!).

Metatheatrical markers: a play-within-a-play, direct address, characters aware of being watched, rehearsal scenes, doubling of roles - all signal 'teatro sobre teatro'.

Genre labels can shift within a work: Buero's La fundación starts as realist and becomes a 'tragedia de la esperanza' through revelation of the prison cell.

Generation of '98: crisis of 1898 (loss of Cuba, Philippines), 'regeneracionismo', preoccupation with 'España' and 'casticismo'; drama influence via Valle-Inclán (esperpento) and Benavente's social critique.

Generation of '27: avant-garde (surrealism, 'greguería'), 'teatro poético' and 'teatro de vanguardia'; Lorca, Alberti, Aleixandre, Cernuda; Lorca's 'teatro imposible' (Así que pasen cinco años, El público).

Second Republic (1931-1939): educational theatre missions (La Barraca, Misiones Pedagógicas); censorship begins with Franco's victory (1939).

Post-war (1940s-50s): 'teatro de evasión' and 'comedia de salón' vs. 'teatro de denuncia' (Buero, Sastre); Francoist censorship (Ley de Prensa 1938, revised 1966) and 'teatro soterrado' premiered abroad.

Transition to democracy (1975-1982): abolition of censorship (1977), revival of Catalan/Galician/Basque theatre, creation of Centro Dramático Nacional (1978) and Compañía Nacional de Teatro Clásico (1986).

Contemporary (1982-present): decentralisation, 'teatro de la memoria' on the Civil War and postwar repression, globalisation themes, and international festivals (Almagro, Mérida).

Historical events to name in context essays: 1898 Desastre, 1914-18 WWI, 1923 Primo de Rivera dictatorship, 1936-39 Civil War, 1939-75 Franco regime, 1978 Constitution.

Avoid anachronism: do not apply 21st-century gender/queer readings to Lorca without noting the historical distance; frame as 'lectura actual' not as authorial intention.

Dialogue functions: advancing plot ('diálogo de acción'), revealing character ('diálogo de caracterización'), and creating atmosphere; note turn-taking, interruptions, silences, and use of 'tú/usted' as social signifier.

Monologue vs. soliloquy: monologue = extended speech with others present; soliloquy = alone, convention of inner thought; both are 'convenciones' the audience accepts.

Didascalias: explicit stage directions (setting, movement, tone) vs. implicit cues embedded in dialogue; note whether they are 'objetivas' or 'subjetivas' (mood, symbol).

Dramatic irony: audience knows what a character does not (e.g., the audience sees the 'fundación' as prison in Buero's La fundación before the characters do); distinguish from 'ironía verbal' (saying the opposite).

Metatheatre markers: play-within-a-play, direct address, character aware of audience, rehearsal scenes, doubling; Valle-Inclán's esperpento uses 'espejos cóncavos' as a metatheatrical metaphor.

Symbolic stagecraft: Lorca's colours (green = fertility/death in Bodas de sangre; white/black in Bernarda), objects (knife, horse, well), and offstage sounds (bells, songs) as dramatic language.

Silence as sign: pauses ('silencio', 'pausa') can mark repression (Bernarda) or unspoken desire (Yerma); count them when analysing an excerpt.

Register and idiolect: each character's speech (popular, culto, coloquial, vulgar) reveals class, education, and power - a key tool in commentary.

Essay structure for commentary: introduction (work, excerpt, thesis), development (formal analysis → content → interpretation), conclusion (function of the passage, style); each paragraph = one idea.

Cohesion devices: connectors of addition ('además', 'asimismo'), contrast ('sin embargo', 'no obstante'), cause ('porque', 'puesto que'), consequence ('por consiguiente', 'de ahí que'), and exemplification ('así', 'por ejemplo').

Coherence rules: consistent thesis, logical progression, no plot summary without analysis, every quotation tied to a claim.

Correctness checklist: agreement (sujeto-verbo), tense consistency in literary present ('Bernarda exige', not 'exigió' when analysing), accent rules (agudas/llanas/esdrújulas), and 'queísmo/dequeísmo'.

Register: use 'se' impersonal ('se observa', 'se aprecia') and 'nos' inclusive; avoid colloquialisms ('un montón de', 'cosa') in academic prose.

Quotation conventions: cite with page/act/scene, use ellipsis '[...]' for cuts, and integrate quotations grammatically into your own syntax.

Punctuation for drama analysis: use 'comillas' for titles of short works and 'cursiva' for book/play titles; separate acts with commas, not full stops, when listing.

Common errors to avoid: 'de que' after 'pienso' (correct: 'pienso que'), 'haber' vs. 'a ver', 'porqué/porque/por qué', and 'sino' vs. 'si no'.

Canonical pre-war landmarks: Benavente's Los intereses creados (1907, commedia dell'arte masks), Valle-Inclán's Luces de bohemia (1920/1924, esperpento), García Lorca's rural trilogy - Bodas de sangre (1933), Yerma (1934), La casa de Bernarda Alba (written 1936, premiered 1945).

Post-war rupture: Buero Vallejo's Historia de una escalera (1949, Premio Lope de Vega) restores tragic conflict; Sastre's Escuadra hacia la muerte (1953) is the key 'teatro de denuncia' debut.

Experimental/underground currents of the 1960s-70s: 'teatro soterrado' - Arrabal (Picnic en el campo de batalla), Nieva (El baile), Riaza, Martínez Mediero; many premiered abroad due to censorship.

Late Buero and social theatre: El tragaluz (1967, experimento in time), La fundación (1974, shifting perspective), Las Meninas; Sastre's later works and the 'teatro de agitación'.

Democratic-era renewal: post-1975 companies and authors (Sanchis Sinisterra's ¡Ay, Carmela! 1987, Alonso de Santos' Bajarse al moro 1985, La estanquera de Vallecas 1981), realism with popular speech.

Contemporary 21st-century line: Juan Mayorga (El chico de la última fila, La lengua en pedazos), Angélica Liddell, Rodrigo García, Sergio Blanco; themes of memory (Ley de Memoria Histórica), migration, gender.

Each prescribed work should be anchored by: date of composition vs. premiere (they often differ under censorship), genre label, and the author's generation (98, 27, post-war, contemporary).

Distinguish 'alta comedia' (Benavente) from 'tragedia rural' (Lorca) from 'esperpento' (Valle-Inclán) from 'drama de denuncia' (Sastre) - examiners expect the correct label per work.

Commentary structure: (1) locate the excerpt (work, act, scene, moment in the plot); (2) formal analysis - who speaks, turn-taking, didascalias, space/time markers; (3) content - conflict, characterisation, themes; (4) interpretation - function of the passage in the whole work; (5) conclusion on style and effect.

Identify the dramatic conflict type: individual vs. society (Bernarda), individual vs. fate (Bodas de sangre), individual vs. self (Yerma), class conflict (Escuadra, Historia de una escalera).

Space analysis: distinguish 'espacio dramático' (offstage, evoked in dialogue) from 'espacio escénico' (visible set); in La casa de Bernarda Alba the house is a prison, and the street/well are offstage threats.

Time analysis: 'tiempo dramático' (fictional duration) vs. 'tiempo escénico' (performance duration) vs. 'tiempo histórico' (period evoked); note ellipses between acts (e.g., three years in Bodas de sangre).

Didascalias (stage directions): explicit (written) vs. implicit (in dialogue); note whether they are 'objetivas' (setting only) or 'subjetivas' (mood, symbol).

Character analysis axes: 'personaje redondo' vs. 'plano'; function (protagonist, antagonista, confidente, 'gracioso'); how speech register reveals class and psychology.

Verbal texture: register (popular vs. culto), verse vs. prose (Lorca's romances in Bodas de sangre vs. prose in Bernarda), rhetorical figures, silences and pauses as dramatic signs.

Beware of quoting without interpreting: every textual citation must be tied to a claim about conflict, character, or theme.

Aristotelian triad: tragedy (elevated characters, inevitable fall, catharsis), comedy (low characters, reversible conflict, laughter), tragicomedy/drama (mixed register, modern default).

Subgenres to know: auto sacramental (one-act allegory, Eucharistic), entremés (short comic interlude, Cervantes), sainete (one-act costumbrista, Arniches), esperpento (Valle-Inclán's deformación sistemática), teatro del absurdo (Ionesco, Beckett), teatro documento (Piscator/Weiss).

Conventions: aparte (audience-addressed aside), monólogo, soliloquio (alone, inner thought), 'voz en off', 'flash-back'/'flash-forward', 'teatro dentro del teatro' (metateatro).

Unity conventions: the three unities (acción, lugar, tiempo) are classical norms, not universal laws; Spanish Golden Age broke them (Lope's Arte nuevo, 1609).

Role types from commedia dell'arte and the Spanish tradition: 'galán', 'dama', 'gracioso', 'criado', 'villano'; Benavente's Los intereses creados explicitly uses masks (Leandro, Crispín, Polichinela).

Tragic vs. tragicomic endings: death (Bodas de sangre), suicide (La casa de Bernarda Alba's Adela), open ambiguity (El tragaluz), ironic reversal (¡Ay, Carmela!).

Metatheatrical markers: a play-within-a-play, direct address, characters aware of being watched, rehearsal scenes, doubling of roles - all signal 'teatro sobre teatro'.

Genre labels can shift within a work: Buero's La fundación starts as realist and becomes a 'tragedia de la esperanza' through revelation of the prison cell.

Generation of '98: crisis of 1898 (loss of Cuba, Philippines), 'regeneracionismo', preoccupation with 'España' and 'casticismo'; drama influence via Valle-Inclán (esperpento) and Benavente's social critique.

Generation of '27: avant-garde (surrealism, 'greguería'), 'teatro poético' and 'teatro de vanguardia'; Lorca, Alberti, Aleixandre, Cernuda; Lorca's 'teatro imposible' (Así que pasen cinco años, El público).

Second Republic (1931-1939): educational theatre missions (La Barraca, Misiones Pedagógicas); censorship begins with Franco's victory (1939).

Post-war (1940s-50s): 'teatro de evasión' and 'comedia de salón' vs. 'teatro de denuncia' (Buero, Sastre); Francoist censorship (Ley de Prensa 1938, revised 1966) and 'teatro soterrado' premiered abroad.

Transition to democracy (1975-1982): abolition of censorship (1977), revival of Catalan/Galician/Basque theatre, creation of Centro Dramático Nacional (1978) and Compañía Nacional de Teatro Clásico (1986).

Contemporary (1982-present): decentralisation, 'teatro de la memoria' on the Civil War and postwar repression, globalisation themes, and international festivals (Almagro, Mérida).

Historical events to name in context essays: 1898 Desastre, 1914-18 WWI, 1923 Primo de Rivera dictatorship, 1936-39 Civil War, 1939-75 Franco regime, 1978 Constitution.

Avoid anachronism: do not apply 21st-century gender/queer readings to Lorca without noting the historical distance; frame as 'lectura actual' not as authorial intention.

Dialogue functions: advancing plot ('diálogo de acción'), revealing character ('diálogo de caracterización'), and creating atmosphere; note turn-taking, interruptions, silences, and use of 'tú/usted' as social signifier.

Monologue vs. soliloquy: monologue = extended speech with others present; soliloquy = alone, convention of inner thought; both are 'convenciones' the audience accepts.

Didascalias: explicit stage directions (setting, movement, tone) vs. implicit cues embedded in dialogue; note whether they are 'objetivas' or 'subjetivas' (mood, symbol).

Dramatic irony: audience knows what a character does not (e.g., the audience sees the 'fundación' as prison in Buero's La fundación before the characters do); distinguish from 'ironía verbal' (saying the opposite).

Metatheatre markers: play-within-a-play, direct address, character aware of audience, rehearsal scenes, doubling; Valle-Inclán's esperpento uses 'espejos cóncavos' as a metatheatrical metaphor.

Symbolic stagecraft: Lorca's colours (green = fertility/death in Bodas de sangre; white/black in Bernarda), objects (knife, horse, well), and offstage sounds (bells, songs) as dramatic language.

Silence as sign: pauses ('silencio', 'pausa') can mark repression (Bernarda) or unspoken desire (Yerma); count them when analysing an excerpt.

Register and idiolect: each character's speech (popular, culto, coloquial, vulgar) reveals class, education, and power - a key tool in commentary.

Essay structure for commentary: introduction (work, excerpt, thesis), development (formal analysis → content → interpretation), conclusion (function of the passage, style); each paragraph = one idea.

Cohesion devices: connectors of addition ('además', 'asimismo'), contrast ('sin embargo', 'no obstante'), cause ('porque', 'puesto que'), consequence ('por consiguiente', 'de ahí que'), and exemplification ('así', 'por ejemplo').

Coherence rules: consistent thesis, logical progression, no plot summary without analysis, every quotation tied to a claim.

Correctness checklist: agreement (sujeto-verbo), tense consistency in literary present ('Bernarda exige', not 'exigió' when analysing), accent rules (agudas/llanas/esdrújulas), and 'queísmo/dequeísmo'.

Register: use 'se' impersonal ('se observa', 'se aprecia') and 'nos' inclusive; avoid colloquialisms ('un montón de', 'cosa') in academic prose.

Quotation conventions: cite with page/act/scene, use ellipsis '[...]' for cuts, and integrate quotations grammatically into your own syntax.

Punctuation for drama analysis: use 'comillas' for titles of short works and 'cursiva' for book/play titles; separate acts with commas, not full stops, when listing.

Common errors to avoid: 'de que' after 'pienso' (correct: 'pienso que'), 'haber' vs. 'a ver', 'porqué/porque/por qué', and 'sino' vs. 'si no'.