Biography

Antonio Buero Vallejo was born on September 29, 1916 in Guadalajara, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain. He was a writer and actor, known for Historia de una escalera (1950), En la ardiente oscuridad (1959) and Madrugada (1957). He was married to Victoria Rodríguez. He died on April 28, 2000 in Madrid, Spain.

Twentieth century Spanish playwright highly honored in Spain, where his tragedies are produced frequently. His plays have also been produced in other European countries, but they are very seldom, if ever, performed in the United States outside of universities. As of 2006, his plays have never been produced on Broadway. He became famous in 1946 with the success of his play "Historia de una escalera" (Story of a Stairway), and followed it up in 1950 with "En la ardiente oscuridad" (In the Burning Darkness), a play set in an institution for the blind, and in which all but one of the characters are blind.

His plays sometimes involve highly theatrical effects. In "En la ardiente oscuridad", during a night scene, the stars go out one by one and suddenly the stage is plunged into darkness, and in "El sueño de la razon" (The Dream of Reason), which deals with the Spanish artist Goya, Goya's deafness is dramatized by family members mouthing their lines without actually saying them out loud.