''The Public'' (''El público''), also known as ''The Audience'', is a play by the twentieth-century

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

Federico García Lorca Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936), known as Federico García Lorca ( ), was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblemat ...

. It was written between 1929 and 1930. The two complete manuscripts which once existed have not been found, and may be lost. All that is known is an earlier draft, missing an act.Martínez Nadal, Rafael (1974), Lorca's The Public: A Study of his Unfinished Play (El público) and of Love and Death in the Work of Federico García Lorca, London: Calder & Boyars, pp. 70–82, It remained unpublished until 1978 and did not receive its first professional theatrical production until 1986. The world premiere of the play was directed by Victoria Espinosa on 15 February 1978 at the

University of Puerto Rico The University of Puerto Rico ( es, Universidad de Puerto Rico, UPR) is the main public university system in the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a government-owned corporation with 11 campuses and approximately 58,000 students and 5,3 ...

Production History

''The Public'' was first presented at the

on 15 February 1978, where it was directed by Victoria Espinosa. A translated version by

Henry Livings Henry Livings (20 September 1929 – 20 February 1998) was an English playwright and screenwriter, who worked extensively in British television and theatre from the 1960s to the 1990s. Early life and career Livings was born in Prestwich ...

(in consultation with the director/designer, Ultz) was first performed on 3 October 1988 at the

Theatre Royal Stratford East The Theatre Royal Stratford East is a 460 seat Victorian producing theatre in Stratford in the London Borough of Newham. Since 1953, it has been the home of the Theatre Workshop company, famously associated with director Joan Littlewood, whose ...

. The U.S. premiere opened at the Shepard Theatre Complex in Los Angeles, CA on February 23, 1989 and was presented by Kaliyuga Arts. The production was directed and designed by John Sowle, with costumes by Silvia Jahnsons and incidental music composed by Jules Langert, and featured Robert J. Bennett, Denise Y. Dowse, Roger Gutierrez, Alex Katehakis, Kevin Kirby, Khin-Kyaw Maung, Richard Neil, Steven Patterson, Jane Thurow, Richard Vidan, Courtney Walsh and B. Wyatt in the cast. Mauricio Sotelo composed an

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

based on the play: The Public premiered in 2015 at the

Teatro Real The Teatro Real (Royal Theatre) is an opera house in Madrid, Spain. Located at the Plaza de Oriente, opposite the Royal Palace, and known colloquially as ''El Real'', it is considered the top institution of the performing and musical arts in the ...

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

, Spain.

References

Plays by Federico García Lorca 1930 plays Metafictional plays LGBT-related plays {{LGBT-fiction-stub