SPAIN: A Window Closes

One night about a year ago, during an intellectual gabfest in Madrid's Café Gijon, two young authors, José Maria Da Quinto and José Gordon, thought up a way to skirt the government censorship of the stage. Why not form a private club to put on shows for members only? Franco's rules did not forbid it. So the club La Carátula (The Mask) was born.

Hundreds joined, paying monthly fees of 20 pesetas ($1.84). Playwrights took no royalties. Directors and actors donated their services. Within a year La Carátula staged single performances of a score of modern plays banned from...

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