Análisis de resultados

Ditea were not only explicitly contributing to contemporary discussions on the future of Galician theatre. They also took a clear stance in debates over the role of translated drama within the Galician system, illustrated by the continuous presence of adaptations of foreign plays in their repertoire. The plays in the ‘Irish cycle’

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exemplify an approach that can be linked to the fast-evolving sociolinguistic situation in Galicia during the 1970s and, in turn, to the wider historical, political and cultural context, at a local, regional and national level.

As previously discussed, Ditea staged a play in Galician language for the first time in 1970, ten years into their history. The group had carved a niche for themselves working on Spanish classics, which they alternated with contemporary texts by Spanish and Latin American playwrights and translations of plays of diverse origin.61 They would continue to use both languages in their productions until 1975, moving to perform exclusively in Galician language from then onwards.62 Their first play in Galician was A comedia da oliña, a translation by Aquilino Iglesia Alvariño of Plautus classical Latin comedy.63 Both the status of the translator and the norm- setting character of the editorial house lent authority to the version.64 Given the political circumstances, the use of Galician language was not a merely creative or stylistic choice but a step that decisively distanced the company from Franco- Regime-endorsed theatrical practice and, in turn, brought them closer to cultural activism in the Galician context. It was also a defining move, as it dissipated any doubt of their place in the system at a time when the debated notion of ‘Galician theatre’ revolved around the language question, with a manifest tendency to apply the ‘philological criterion’ as a sign of identity, i.e. Galician theatre must be made in the Galician language.

Magán’s public declaration of an exclusive commitment to the Galician language on the part of Ditea at the 1974 edition of the Mostra de Teatro de Ribadavia did not have immediate effect and the company went on to present their

61 _{Full list of productions in Appendix B.}

62

The only exception to this is the 2004 reprisal of Tiempo del 98, a 1971 text by Juan Antonio Castro under the direction of Xosé Manuel Olveira ‘Pico’ for the conference La Galicia de Valle Inclán (Pobra do Caramiñal, A Coruña).

63 _{The text had been published by Galaxia in 1962. Aquilino Iglesia Alvariño (1909-1961) was a poet,}

essayist and member of the Real Academia Galega and author of Cómaros verdes (1947), the first book in Galician language published after the Civil War.

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final production in Spanish language in 1975: Retablo en tiempo presente, by Antonio Martínez Ballesteros. 65 In the ensuing years, nonetheless, Ditea tended to highlight their work in Galician language, to the point of suppressing references to the previous period, as can be in the text facilitated by the company to the organisers of the Mostra de Teatro de Vigo in 1975:

O grupo de teatro de cámara Ditea foi fundado no ano 1960 por un fato de afeizoados o teatro perteñecentes ós diversos estamentos da cidade de Santiago: obreiros, estudantes, empregados, etc.

Nestos quince anos de intensa e xamáis interrompida laboura, leva montadas perto de cincoenta obras das máis variadas modalidades teatrás, dende os primeiros crásicos deica a derradeira avangarda.

En língua galega representou, a partir de 1968, as seguintes pezas: ‘A comedia da oliña’, de Plauto-Iglesia Alvariño; ‘Oratorio’, de Jiménez Romero; ‘Cabalgada cara ó mar’, de John M. Synge; ‘A barca do inferno’, de Gil Vicente, e ‘Morte e vida severina’, de Xoan Cabral de Melo Neto.66

The hand programme to Roda Viva (1979) paraphrases the fragment above but omits any reference to Cabalgada cara ó mar (1972).67 In addition to foregrounding their work in Galician language, Ditea also traded on their status as a Galician company beyond the Galician context. In a letter addressed to the organisers of the ‘Semana de Galicia’ in the Colegio Mayor San Juan Bautista (Madrid) in 1970,

Morte e vida Severina is described in the following terms: ‘Tratándose de una

versión en lengua portuguesa (igual a gallega) y siendo el nuestro un grupo gallego, creemos que encajaría perfectamente en esa semana gallega que proyectan

celebrar’.68

By equating Portuguese and Galician, Ditea were utilising their identity and reshaping cultural boundaries to frame their work in accordance with the receiving audience.

65 _{The announcement took place in September 1974 and the play was staged only twice in March}

1975.

66 _{Note the emphasis on the plurality of social backgrounds in its ranks. This document is documented}

by Rodríguez Villar (La cultura teatral..., p. 369), who also points at certain inconsistencies in the timeline given by Ditea.

67 _{In addition to the discrepancy in the dates, the plays are not listed in chronological order, as can be}

seen in the hand programme for Roda Viva in Appendix J.

68

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In contrast with their choice of Galician, not only as their stage language but also as part of their public image, Ditea always clung onto their freedom of choice and rejected linguistic impositions. Their productions of Irish plays punctuate changes in attitude to the Galician language which can be seen as a response to transformations within the Galician theatre system and, in turn, to the sociopolitical metamorphosis of the Spanish state. The first play, Cabalgada cara ó mar, consolidates the move to using exclusively Galician language in their productions.

Rosas vermellas para min, a play with strong political content, arrives in the early

moments of the transition to democracy. O país da saudade had a commemorative value, linked to the Día das Letras and to the pre-war cultural ideal, and A fontenla

dos milagres coincides with the strengthening of democracy and a diminution of the

need for the political instrumentalisation of theatrical manifestations.