Na presente tese realízase unha análise pormenorizada das actividades dramáticas e culturais do Teatro Circo (TC) da Coruña, o primeiro colectivo galego plenamente identificado co Teatro Independente e o máis representativo deste movemento. Coa descrición da traxectoria do TC determinaranse non só os postulados ideolóxico-estéticos e o traballo escénico e investigador do TC, mais tamén dos grupos independentes actuantes no franquismo, e procurarase estabelecer a relevancia da experiencia na recuperación, modernización e proxección do teatro galego. Neste percorrido ficará patente a relación do TC cos grupos independentes da Península e o papel paradigmático que desempeñou no teatro da altura, reducido á actividade en castelán dos colectivos comerciais e de Cámara. Comprobarase que, seguindo o exemplo do TC, xurdiron un bo número de agrupacións inseridas no independentismo teatral.

The aim of this thesis is to offer a detailed analysis of the dramatic and cultural activities of the Teatro Circo of A Coruña, the first and most fully representative member of the Independent Theatre movement in Galicia. The thesis examines the aesthetic and ideological ideas behind the stage and research activities of TC, as well as those of other independent drama groups active in Galicia during the Francoist dictatorship, and assesses the influence of the TC experiment on the revival, modernisation and dissemination of Galician drama. The study also looks at the relationship between TC and other dramatic groups in Spain and Portugal, and the group’s influence at a time when drama in Galicia had been reduced to little more than Spanish-language commercial and chamber theatre. The analysis demonstrates that the example set by TC gave rise to a number of new independent drama groups.