Antonio Buero Vallejo, who died on 28 April 2000, was the most important Spanish dramatist of the post-Civil War period. In his long career as a playwright, Buero published thirty original plays. Only three of these have never been performed. This book focuses on the committed dramas and therefore has little to say about certain plays such as El terror inmóvil, La señal que se espera (1952), Madrugada (1953), Hoy es fiesta (1955), Irene, o el tesoro (1954) and Una extraña armonía, which do not deal with the themes of history, myth and ideology and contain only very limited social comment. It concentrates instead on an analysis of the more political dramas as the basis for an investigation of Buero's engagement with the ideologies of Francoism and of post- Franco Spain.

Despite his Republican allegiances, Buero Vallejo was the most commercially successful dramatist of the Franco era. In the 1950s, Buero was hailed as the saviour of the Spanish theatre and praised for the social realism of his work and for his exposé of the tragedy of a divided Spain. He was condemned by others, however, particularly as his success and reputation grew, for what was seen as his capitulation to the pressures of censorship and finally for coming to form a part of the Francoist Establishment, lending his prestige to the regime by accepting its honours. Thus his dedication to social drama and his opposition to the regime were brought into question. Yet, while he was at times damned for his silences by some of his contemporaries, so too was he denounced for his words by Franco's censors.

It is difficult to refute Alfonso Sastre's assertion that Buero was operating from within the Francoist system. Buero did choose to remain and work in Spain, and to adopt an attitude of compromise and posibilismo in his work and in his dealings with the regime.