SOURCE: “Art and Music in Buero Vallejo's Diálogo secreto,” in Hispanic Journal, Vol. 9, No. 1, Fall, 1987, pp. 51–61.

In the following essay, Pennington analyzes Buero Vallejo's use of art and music in Diálogo secreto, and asserts, “The art and music interpolated into the imagery of the drama betray serious, purposeful research and selection, and suggest other components of the play may be investigated with fruitful, valid results.”

In Diálogo secreto, Antonio Buero Vallejo's recent play (1984), the dramaturge bombards the spectator with multiple themes and images which at first glance give the impression of having little in common. Coupled with the issue of critic versus creator, one hears a technical explanation of how perfectly complementary colors form white light; references to middle-class morality and revolutionary ideology are absorbed by an audience which also hears allusions to Calderón de la Barca, Ortega y Gasset, Velázquez, and El...