Josep Robrenyo (Barcelona, 1782/84-1838) was a poet, playwright, improvisator of verse, author of pamphlet poems, one-act farces, illustrated stories with rhyming captions and advertising posters. He wrote at least 54 stage works of which less than half (22) have been conserved. He was the leading nineteenth-century one-act political farce writer.

Although he started out in the family tradition as a wood carver, he soon became intoxicated with theatre, first of all in amateur theatre and eventually officially in the Santa Creu Theatre of the Rambla de Barcelona where he played comedy parts in which he put to good use the effects of being both short and strong.

After 1821 he was outstanding for his stalwart defence of the Constitutional cause (the Cadiz Constitution of 1812). He was imprisoned for his political views, censored and forced into exile by the absolutist governments until, with the amnesty of 1832, he could once again participate publicly in the world of theatre.

He travelled around Spain in between his periods of exile, visiting La Coruña and El Ferrol in 1824, Granada and Málaga in 1827 and Madrid in 1830.

In 1838 he travelled to the Americas with his family and, after a periplus in the Caribbean, the schooner in which they were journeying was shipwrecked. He died on 12 September and, some days later, his widow also died. He was survived by three children who embarked on long careers in the theatre in America.

Although his complete works for the stage were published by Olivares in 1855, the figure of Robrenyo was neglected for much of the twentieth century. His plays constitute the gateway into the Renaixença, the romantic revivalist movement in Catalan language and culture. A major theatre prize bears his name.



Web page: Abel Ramon Vidal for AELC.
Image: Obras poéticas de Jose Robreño. Barcelona: Imprenta de J. A. Oliveres, 1855, p. 4. Autor desconegut.