Antonio Buero Vallejo

The publication of El Tragaluz in 1967 coincided with a slight relaxation in the political censorship in Spain, and therefore could deal directly with a situation arising directly from the Civil War and its aftermath. Buero Vallejo portrays the blighted lives of the family on the 'losing side' in a dark basement flat …

This play describes a teaching centre for young people who are blind, where a false unity is maintained by a mixture of fear, coercion and diversion and where education is seen as to play a part in the regime's ideological apparatus and to encourage the acceptance of pleasant and reassuring myths.