The dramatist places his characters in antagonistic temporal contexts, and then he explores their reactions to the historical, social, and economic conflicts of the eras in which they exist. In the four plays examined in this dissertation – Historia de una escalera, El tragaluz, La Fundación, and La detonación – Antonio Buero Vallejo penetrates the surface reality depicted in the plays’ scenery, characters, and dialogue to reveal an extraordinary concern with the effect of time on these theatrical elements.
