Spanish+Golden+Age+Theater

=Synopsis= Spain’s golden age (//Siglo de Oro//) was the time of greatest Spanish power and influence that took place roughly 1500-1700, encompassing the Renaissance and Baroque periods (Panoramas Literarios). These two centuries marked not just a time of political unity and great colonial power but an apex of art and theater both of secular and religious natures. Neither up until that point or since did live theater have such popularity or enduring significance in Spain. During this brief period, all classes had a single art form in common: the comedy (or //la comedia nueva//), redefined and popularized by Lope de Vega. Although comic plays never were critical of the basic power structure in Spanish society (or else they wouldn’t be produced) in an emotional capacity, they counteracted the oppression and fear of the Catholic Inquisition.

=Historical Context= The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, from the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella through Phillip IV, was the height of the Spanish empire both politically and artistically (Edwards). The year 1492 proved a remarkably pivotal one in Spanish history, cementing Spain as a centralized, unified state. These are the landmark events of that year:
 * Ferdinand and Isabella (Los Reyes Catolicos) take Granada, the last Muslim city, and unite the Spanish kingdom
 * Columbus made his first landing in the Indies
 * Jewish expulsion from Spain
 * Catholicism becomes the official religion of the state
 * Spanish becomes the official language

The events of 1492 mark a shift in Spanish identity. To be a true Spaniard, one had to be Catholic and speak only Spanish. Under the Inquisition, from 1478 to 1821, it was unlawful to practice any religion other than Roman Catholicism. Church and state law were bound into one central authority over all aspects of life. Missing Mass one Sunday would put one at risk of being denounced as a secret Jew or Muslim. People were deeply suspicious of converts, as many converted just to remain in the country, not because of religious transformation.

Despite theater’s wild popularity, central authorities were resistant to allow it to take hold. The church, inextricably bound to the state, considered theater a necessary evil because it was impossible to suppress. Departing from one’s own station in life, as actors do, was seen as dangerous to those in power. Instead of banning theater, restrictions were placed on it. All literature was subject to strict censorship; anything anti-Catholic or anti-monarchy put the playwright’s life at risk. To give plays a practical moral purpose, theater companies had to be associated with a charity, which kept them from making too much money. The success of the Spanish //Comedia// despite the Catholic Inquisition’s vice grip over all aspects of life is remarkable.

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=Performance Space= At the beginning of the sixteenth century, comedies were performed in open squares between buildings called //corrales// that were only for temporary use. These spaces were formed by three residences and open to the street at one end. For a few weeks or months at a time, one theater company would rent the space and construct a simple wooden platform for a stage. There was little to no set pieces or effects of any kind and no curtain to hide scene changes. Everything was open to the audience other than the dressing room (el vestuario). Like the raised boxes along the sides of modern theaters, the private balconies of the people whose homes formed the corral would be used for seating wealthy theatergoers. Admission cost would be split among the owner of the //corral,// the actors, and their charity. The upper class and women would sit apart from the raucous boozing and fighting that took place in the standing area. Women were obliged to watch from locked galleries at the rear directly facing the stage.

Built in Madrid in 1579, //El Corral de la Cruz// was Spain’s first permanent theater, (Norton). The spectator hierarchy remains the same in these venues as in the courtyard theaters. There is more balcony seating in the permanent theaters for the wealthy as well as more standing room in the center. Like London’s globe, there is an open space (rather than a ceiling) in the center to let in natural light. The most important change is the number of people (about two thousand) that could see a single performance. Only the largest cities, however, saw the construction of permanent theaters. Their construction was limited because the church-run state did not want theater to become a fixture of Spanish culture.

=Literature= Because of the strict censorship of the Catholic Church at this time, serious literature critiquing the power structure of Spanish society was forbidden. Works that we have come to appreciate as great Spanish literature, such as //La Vida de Lazarillo de Tormes//, a novel of the Spanish-born Picaresque genre, were really printed in other parts of Europe and diffused illegally back into Spain, (Panoramas Literarias, 94). Many genres were able to flourish, however, within the country, such as the pastoral novel and various forms of poetry such as the sonnet, which was widely written and read during this period.

=Religious Theater (//Autos Sacramentales//)= The first embodiment of the theater in Spain came from the church. Religious skits like the modern Stations of the Cross or Christmas pageant grew more and more elaborate until they were a large body of mini-plays. The autos were put on every year during the feast of Corpus Christi. They were performed on two-story carts that would travel through a town, stopping to perform in different squares all day long. The spectacles were performed by guilds of craftsmen, each guild mastering the one scene that their cart would put on. It is notable that these were not professional actors but people with normal trades participating in theater. This tradition can be seen as a bridge between the Church and actors, perhaps sending the message that the effect of theater on society depends on the capacity in which it is used. //Autos Sacramentales//, however, were put on annually, so they did not have the same impact on everyday life as the comedies.

=**Lope de Vega** (1562-1635)= The most well-known and prolific of the golden age playwrights, Lope de Vega is often called the father of modern Spanish drama. He was a writer of //comedia//, //autos sacramentales// and poetry. His groundbreaking essay, “The New Art of Writing Plays” (//El Arte Nuevo de Hacer Comedias//) outlined the ways that he revolutionized Spanish comedy. Among his suggestions were using three acts rather than five and including elements of tragedy into comedies, characteristics that can be seen in modern theater worldwide.

Lope de Vega is often compared to Shakespeare for his lasting impact on theater, though De Vega’s productivity was far greater. Shakespeare wrote 37 plays. Lope de Vega claimed to have written 1800 plays, 800 of which survive, though there is some dispute as to how many of those were actually written by him. The writer’s incredible output earned him the name famously coined by Cervantes, “El monstruo de la naturaleza,” or “the monster of nature,” (Edwards). As one might imagine, there was a good deal of repetition in his plays, many following the same “boy wants girl, can’t have girl, overcomes obstacle to get girl” format. But among De Vega’s plays, many are distinctive, well-regarded and frequently reproduced. The most widely acclaimed of De Vega’s comedies is //Fuente Ovejuna//, which is still performed and studied worldwide and has been adapted into film. Some of his other most well-known works are //Punishment without Revenge// and //The Knight from Olmedo//.

It may not come as a surprise that the father of //la comedia//, with its never ending twists and turns, led a life that would read like a grand adventure-romance novel. He fell feverishly in and out of love so many times and to such tragic ends that it is no wonder his theatrical works span the emotional range.

=**The Spanish Comedy** **(La Comedia Nueva)**= Comedy was the principal theater form at this time in Spain and the most profitable genre for playwrights because of their popularity. Lope de Vega pioneered what would be called the New Comedy (//La Comedia Nueva//), by doing away with the concept of “unities” which restricted the author’s use of time and place in the play. Lope de Vega’s innovations are in total opposition to the style of French theater at the time. There was no more unity of time or unity of space: the action was not restricted to a single day or a single room. De Vega argued that this allowed for more realism.

Unlike most all other comic traditions up until that point, //La Comedia Nueva// contained moments of tragedy and suffering. //Comedia Nueva//was written in verse, a style that had always been reserved for tragedy, as it was considered more refined. The French concept of “purity of form” demands that comedies not be written in verse and that they have no tragic content whatsoever. French drama and Spanish comedies of the past would never have their heroes tortured or raped as the townspeople are in //Fuente Ovejuna//. Moments of suffering such as these allows contrast within the piece, and thus a more life-like experience than just pure humor.

A common classification of the //comedia// is the //comedia de capa y espada//, or cloak and dagger comedy, usually following the lives of lesser nobles and the dramas that ensue when their honor is violated by another. //La Comedia de Costumbre// is another variation that could be compared to the English comedy of manners.

Unlike the Italian Commedia del’Arte, the Spanish comedias did have modern scripts in the sense that all the actors and actresses had set lines. The characters did not have stock names as they do in Italian Commedias, but do rely on stereotype (even as comedies today). The characters are usually flat and static, with villains staying villains, heroes staying heroes, and no one changing very much or having a highly developed personality. This is a plot-centered narrative where a type, or stock character, is simply placed in a given situation and behaves in the typical manner of that type. Some notable stock characters of Spanish comedyare //El gracioso//, the funny or even stupid character that says what everyone else wants to say, the gentleman //(caballero),// the cavalier (//el galan//) and the lady (//la dama//) (Spain Golden Age Literature: Overview). An example of a //gracioso// is Mengo of //Fuente Ovejuna//, who continually talks about his backside.

=**Pedro Calderón de la Barca** (1600-1681)= Calderon de la Barca wrote comedies and autos sacramentales for Phillip IV, who was a grand endorser of the theater. Thanks to King Philip’s great enjoyment of not only theater but of La Barca’s plays especially, he was able to get away with straying from some of the official limitations placed on playwrights. His most well-known work is //La Vida es Sueño//, or Life is a Dream, (Leavitt). The play brings to light a common way of regarding life at this point in time. The Catholic religion led many to think of life and everything in it as illusory in comparison to the vibrant, eternal afterlife. Because God has control over everything that happens in the world, it is like a play set up with a known end, (Gerstinger). A similar idea can be seen in his contemporary Shakespeare as well: “All the World’s a stage,” etc.

=**Tirso de Molina** (1584-1648)= Ironically, even though Molino was a priest his plays were the most harshly censored of any of the major playwrights of the era known today. He was even exiled from Madrid because the content of his plays were too sexual. His plays were published in two books: //Los Cigareles de Toldedo// (1624) and //Doze Comedias de Lope de Vega Carpio, y otros autores// (1630), (Leavitt).His most well-known work was //El Burlador de Sevilla//, or The Trickster of Seville. It is from this this play that the infamous womanizer Don Juan comes. The Don Juan type has become a common trope in Spanish literature. He is a man loved by many women who is a slave to his passion. He is incapable of committing or being faithful to any one woman. The women who fall in with him are destined for ruin.

=**Actors**= Actors were professional in that they made their living from the theater but only rarely was it a good living (Gerstinger). Actors were expected to pay for their own costumes, which could get quite costly and extravagant. Actors were mistrusted because of their vagabond lifestyle of moving from city to city and playing pretend for a living, and because they were poor and gave people the impression that they would do anything for money. Indeed, the actors were performing in desperate hopes to please the audience enough for them to toss a few extra coins onto the stage (rather than rotten food). They were seen as sexual creatures because they used their bodies to entertain. At the end of the 16th century, women were permitted to be stage performers but there was a great deal of stigma surrounding actresses. They were often assumed to be prostitutes unless they had a husband in the company (which became legally mandated) but sometimes even that was not enough to put off accusations of moral depravity.

=**Works Cited**=

//Antiquity through the Eighteenth Century: Spanish Theater//. 2012. 1 11 2012. .

Borque, Jose Maria Diez. //Teoria, Forma y Funcion del Teatro Espanol de los Siglos de Oro//. Barcelona, 1996.

Edwards, Gwynne. "Introduction." //Lope de Vega Three Major Plays//. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Gerstinger, Heinz. //Lope de Vega and Spanish Drama//. Trans. Samuel R. Rosenbaum. New York: Frederick UngarPublishing Co., 1974.

"Sinopsis historico-literaria." Kienzle, Beverly Mayne, Teresa Mendez-Faith and Mary-Anne Vetterling. //Panoramas Literarios Espana//. 2nd. Boston: Heinle Cengage Learning, 2013. 92-96.

Leavitt, Sturgis E. //An Intrduction to Golden Age Drama in Spain//. Valencia, 1971.

//Spain Golden Age Literature: Overview//. 2009. 3 November 2012. .