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Abstract:

The article is dedicated to the tragicomic farce “El Señor de Pigmalión” by Spanish playwright of the 20^th century J. Grau. The main characters of the work are automaton dolls resembling people who rebel against and kill their creator to gain freedom. In the three acts Grau shows the relationship of the dolls with their creator who is hiding behind the pseudonym of Pigmalión and is the only human being among the main characters. Pigmalión considers his dolls slaves, asserts himself at their expense and in the course of the play repeatedly compares himself to Prometheus. Pigmalións’ dolls are traditional folklore and literary characters whose names evoke persistent associations in Spanish viewers / readers. The dolls pretend to be living as human beings and this behavior parodies the comic theater of the Golden Age, thereby turning the farce into a metatheater. The novelty of the interpretation of creator / creation relationship theme proposed by Grau is revealed by comparing “El Señor de Pigmalión” with various works that have developed this subject up to the 20^th century. The farce is also compared to plays by L. Pirandello, K. Čapek and G.B. Shaw. Another characteristic trait of the farce was revealed during the research — intertextual saturation of the play that refers to various texts that influenced the playwright.