Teatro Español
Madrid's municipal playhouse on Plaza de Santa Ana, on a site used for drama since 1583.
Theatre has been performed on this site since 1583, when the Corral del Príncipe opened as an open-air courtyard playhouse. It became one of the principal stages of the Spanish Golden Age, giving early performances of works by Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina and Calderón de la Barca. The corral was roofed and rebuilt several times, and after a fire in 1802 Juan de Villanueva designed the neoclassical building that still faces Plaza de Santa Ana, which reopened in 1807 and took the name Teatro Español in 1849.
The theatre is run by Madrid city council and concentrates on Spanish drama, from Golden Age classics to new writing, alongside dance, music and family programmes. Besides the main horseshoe auditorium it uses the smaller Sala Margarita Xirgu and the Salón de Balcones. Playwrights' names are carved across the façade, and a statue of Federico García Lorca stands in the square outside. The 2026-27 season takes the poets of the Generation of 27 as its theme.
Highlights
- Site of the Corral del Príncipe, a Golden Age playhouse opened in 1583
- Neoclassical façade by Juan de Villanueva facing Plaza de Santa Ana
- Three performance spaces, including the Sala Margarita Xirgu
- Programming focused on Spanish classics and new drama
