La Casa Encendida of Obra Social Caja Madrid presents, for the first time ever in Spain, a retrospective of the life and work of Edward Gordon Craig, (Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England, 1872; Saint-Paul de Vence, France, 1966), a pioneer of the 20th century in theatre research and a crucial figure in the development of contemporary theatre.

Entitled "Edward Gordon Craig. El espacio como espectáculo", the exhibition explores "scenic space", a term coined by the author in direct contrast to traditional stage productions based first and foremost on the text. Just as a single person is capable of creating a theatrical phenomenon (spoken or gestural theatre...), so too can space operate independently as a phenomenon, with the distances, directions and limits as the protagonists. Craig’s proposal derives from the confluence of the two phenomena: text and space.

The exhibition has several goals. The first is to provide spectators with an insight into the little-known actor, stage designer and theatre director, Edward Gordon Craig. The second goal is to unravel the varied and abundant influences that both nourished and impacted on his thinking. Finally, the exhibition analyses the theatre from the spatial perspective. Gordon Craig conceived stage design as a laboratory of architectures, folding screens, prisms, stairs and segments, achieving maximum expression through minimal, extremely simplified architecture.

The exhibition, which comprises over 200 works, offers a retrospective look at the theatre and is articulated around six themes of particular importance in the appreciation of Craig’s work: the native and chosen universe of Edward Gordon Craig, stairs - states of mind I, II, III and IV: a spatial laboratory, the window and the reticle, space and light, movement and Hamlet.

The son of the British architect and designer Edward Godwin and the stage actress Ellen Terry, Edward Gordon Craig saw the theatre as a confluence of ideas from a variety of fields (architectures, voices, laces, paintings, bodies, etc.) and believed that these should form a unified whole to formalise the art of theatre. His work is open to interpretation and brimming with suggestions. Only through the incorporation of visual and sound elements can a written work become theatre in its fullest sense.

His ideas have left a crucial legacy for modern theatre practices. One example is the use of stage elements (set design, costumes, lighting, etc.) in the mise en scène in such a way that they transcend reality. Gordon Craig had a major influence on the general conception of the art of theatre and stage design. He taught scenographers to reject flat naturalist imitations and base their work instead on the powers of suggestion, to give free reign to their imagination in order to arouse that of the spectator.