Massimo Bontempelli y la crítica española de entreguerras: nota sobre la recepción de Nostra Dea en Madrid (1926)

Abstract

Massimo Bontempelli's plays are of highly historical importance in the avant-garde. Among them. Nostra Dea (1925) achieved considerable fame and Margarita Xirgu even decided to present it to the public in Madrid as early as 1926. The critics welcomed the innovative experience and praised both the acting and the staging, colourful and consistent with the modern symbolical features of the text, but many did not conceal their disappointment in front of the alleged superficiality of the plot and the characters of the play, whose frivolous humour appeared to conflict with the intended allegory. Only some pointed out that no consistency was to be asked from a play whose main interest was the «pure form». The play was considered nevertheless little more than a modern farce, what may illustrate the mixed reception in Madrid of the supposedly lighter manifestations of the avant-garde theatre.