Mechanical Theatres had their origin in royal and aristochratic homes, as a private spectacle consisting of rod puppets moved mechanically through a lever system. Automatons were already popular novelty items for the well-fed back in the 18th century, but from the 1850s onward, not only did they become ever more sofisticated, but began being available for the public to witness in museums and antique shops, making them popular among the common people too.
As mechanical puppets became more common in the 19th century, peripatetic versions of these spectacles began appearing in theatres, and artists gradually began implementing actual automatons and mechanical figures to their shows, some going as far as creating full on mechanical scenes. These worked mostly thanks to clockwork mechanisms hidden away from the public-which often times only needed a lever to be put into action- These sometimes acted like living newspapers in which they recreated recent battles, and others depicted more complex scenes akin to giant mundinovis- a scene in perspective of several puppets in movement
The first peripatetic Mechanical Theatre booths were nativity scenes- which often featured a mechanical puppet show or a movie proyection as a side spectacle, which went from town to town to visit their fairs- but soon the navities were sidelined in favor of the more popular puppet shows.
In Spain, these mechanical theatre booths began making rounds in the 1920s. Notable names quoted by Gonzalo Cañas, director of the Automaton theatre are the Artistic Pavilion, Spectacles ROCA and Hollywood. Hollywood was the last survivor of the three booths, making rounds up until 1992. Soon after, in october of the same year, Gonzalo Cañas Acquired the booth, giving the name of "Automaton Theatre", and began working on renovating it. The theatre began running again up until 2009.
After the passing of Gonzalo Cañas on October 30th 2012, it was donated to Madrid's City Hall. Up until 2023, it had spent 5 years in Prince Theatre, without being shown, mainly becaouse of how complex it is to upkeep and assemble because of its antiquity. However, in 2022, Juan Lunas -Tecnician who helped Gonzalo Cañas with the theatre from the 1992 rennovations up until his passing - wrote a 700 page long manual detailing assemblage, disassemblage, conservation and inner workings.
Thanks to him, the automaton Theatre was once again revived- in 2023, from December 2023 to January 2024, it was shown to the public again in the Plaza Matadero.
