Calle de Emilio Mario
It honors Emilio Mario, a nineteenth-century actor, director, and theater manager who drove stage naturalism in the theaters of Madrid.
Mario Emilio López Chaves was born in Granada in 1838 and signed his whole career as Emilio Mario, the stage name suggested to him by the playwright Luis de Eguílaz. He served in the army before turning to the stage and made his debut at the Teatro Español in 1856.
His mission was to banish affectation from the Spanish stage: he got rid of stock costumes and artificial gesturing, and demanded that things on stage look real. It is said that for El cura de Longueval he made real rain fall before the audience, and that when a character ate, the actors took real food. From 1874 he directed the Teatro de la Comedia, under whose mentorship passed actresses such as María Guerrero and María Tubau.