Unlike the rest of Europe, the Moors occupied much of Spain during
the Middle Ages, beginning in 711 and gradually decreasing until the late
fifteenth century. Learning flourished, Spain’s unique architectural
style developed, but because of
Muslim beliefs not much happened in the way of
theatre in Spain until after 1469. In that year the marriage of Ferdinand
and Isabella united the two major portions of the kingdom under a Roman
Catholic rule, and they gradually expelled both the Moors and the Jews from the
country (the infamous Spanish Inquisition began in 1480). In 1492 the
defeat of the Moors at Granada created a completely unified Spain, which by
1550 had become the strongest nation in the western world, as a result of a
combined faith (for better or worse) in God, Church, and the State. At this
time Spain embarked on a siglo de oro,
a golden age, which included its theatre
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| The Moorish influence on Spanish architecture - The Alhambra Court of Lions |
Religious dramas were being used to educate and strengthen
Catholic Spain at the very time the rest of Europe was banning religious
drama. The religious plays became associated with the
Feast of Corpus
Christi, as many in the rest of Europe had done during the Medieval era). A
reminder: Corpus Christi emphasized the power of the sacraments (there are
seven and perhaps the most important is Holy Communion, which celebrates the
“body of Christ”). Because they focused on the sacraments, they became
known as autos sacramentales. These plays about the sacraments
combined characteristics of morality plays and cycle plays. Human and
supernatural characters mingled with allegorical characters, such as sin,
grace, grief, and so on. Stories could be drawn from any source, as long
as they displayed the validity of the sacraments and Church dogma.
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| Autos sacramentales re-enacted in Valencia |
Until approximately 1550 trade and religious guilds called cofradias
staged the autos. These were
confraternities, church-based charity organizations that fed and clothed the
poor and ran hospitals. By 1558 professional acting troupes were often
employed by the cofradias to perform
these religious pieces, and the autos
were written by Spain’s finest dramatists. Compare this with Medieval religious
drama in the rest of Europe where plays were performed by townspeople and where
the names of few writers are known. In Madrid, Spain’s capital, three
autos were given each year until 1592; the number rose to 4 per year until
1647; and after 1647, two autos were presented each year. By the way, from
1647-1681, one writer, Calderon de la Barca, wrote all of the autos sacramentales staged in Madrid
(nearly 80 plays).
We have visual evidence that the plays were staged on carros,
two-storied wagons that were pulled up to portable platforms. We know
that in 1690 the carros were 16’ long
and 36’ tall. You’ll remember I hope that this is similar to Medieval
staging on pageant wagons.
In the early sixteenth century, the Renaissance came to Spain via
Italy, and playwrights began to translate Latin and Greek works into Spanish,
and also to write plays based on these models. One of the best-known
writers was Fernando Rojas (c 1465 - c 1541), who wrote La Celestina in 1492 –
this was not a play as such, rather a novel in dialogue form that influenced
many later Spanish playwrights. Another early writer was Juan del Encina
(1469-1529), who wrote religious plays and pastorals, including El triunfo del amor (The Triumph of Love) in 1497.
By the 1550s writers began working for the professional
theatre.
The first of these was Lope
de Rueda (c 1510 - c 1565), also a well-known professional actor-manager who
staged Corpus Christi plays in Vallodolid. Lope wrote both religious
plays and full-length secular comedies of earthy humor, such as The Frauds (1552-58). He is also known
for short farcical sketches (pasos), such as The Olives. Rueda himself acted in his plays, playing the
fools and simpletons.
Shortly after Rueda, Miguel
de Cervantes (1547-1616), author of the great novel Don Quixote, also found time to write about 30 plays between 1580
and 1587, of which 10 comedias (full
length plays) and 8 entremises
(interludes, short topical sketches) survive. Perhaps his best known comedia is The Siege of Numancia, about a Roman attack on a Spanish town in
134 BC. But Cervantes’ dramatic work is almost never performed today, and
seems somewhat stiff when compared to that of Lope de Vega. To illustrate,
Oscar Brockett in his History of Theatre
compares Cervantes to the University Wits before Shakespeare.
Lope Felix de Vega Carpio (1562-1635), generally known as Lope de Vega, has frequently been
called the Shakespeare of Spain.
Lope is the first great playwright
of Spain’s Golden Age. This man led quite a life. A member of the
Spanish Armada, he was also became the secretary to a noble, participated in
affairs of business and of love, and after 1614 took the vows of a
priest. In 1609 he claimed that he had written 483 plays in a form called
comedia
nueva, a term which refers to
any full-length play, serious or comic, in a new style not unlike that which
was being written by Shakespeare (though with somewhat less breadth and
depth). While Lope was not the only writer of this form, he was its major
exponent, since he was so popular and prolific. Estimates of total numbers of
Lope’s plays (which include short pieces and autos) have reached as high as
1800! 800 is more likely the total, and 331 that are his of certainty
survive, with another 200 plays attributed to him. Somewhere between the
writing, the women, and all the other events in this life packed with events,
he also found time to write a treatise on drama, in which he said that while he
was familiar with the neoclassical rules, he was careful to lock them up
whenever he sat down to write a play!
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| Lope de Vega |
Lope wrote in many styles. I’ve noted that he wrote many religious
plays, but one of his favorite genres was a variety of the comedia
nueva called the capa y espada (cape and sword), a term that
described the young blood-blooded
Spaniards who were featured
in these plays about honor and how to achieve it. They
were filled with romance and sword fights. His greatest play (and one
frequently revived today) Fuenteovejuna (c 1614) was written
in a different manner. A feudal lord has been lording it over his
subjects in a more oppressive manner than usual, raping and murdering his
subjects. In return he is murdered in the village of Fuenteovejuna. When the court
convened by the king to find the murderer for punishment asks who killed the
lord, each citizen answers, ”Fuenteovejuna.” In other words, “We all did
it.” This play is one of the first with what we can call a group protagonist,
and was used by Russian revolutionaries in 1917 and after as an example of the
workers rising up against corrupt bosses.
nueva called the capa y espada (cape and sword), a term that
Other writers were active during Lope’s career, and though none
achieved Lope’s fame (similarly to Elizabethan writers who worked during the
time of Shakespeare), there are two worth mentioning because their plays were
important models for later works. Guillen de Castro, a friend of Lope’s,
wrote several plays, but is remembered for Las
Mocedades del Cid (The Youthful Adventures of the Cid) (1612-1618), which
was the work on which Pierre Corneille modeled his play, Le Cid. We’ll learn much more
of Corneille’s play later.
Equally important is Tirso de Molina
(c 1584 - 1648) wrote nearly 400 plays, of which 80 survive. The only one
Tirso is remembered for outside Spain is El
Burlador de Sevilla, (The Trickster
of Seville) (1616-1630?) which is the first treatment of the Don Juan
story. Why is this so important? There are more plays, operas, and movies
about Don Juan than perhaps any other story in western dramatic literature,
with the possible exception of the Faustus legend.
After Lope’s death, Pedro Calderon
de la Barca (1600-1681) became the most prominent of Spanish playwrights.
Whereas
Lope had penned most of his work for the public theatres, many of
Calderon’s creations were written for the court. Although he wrote his
share of capa y espada plays,
Calderon’s works often looked deeply into philosophical issues; he was less
interested in action than in the mysteries of life. His most famous play
is Life
is a Dream (c 1636). In it he writes about a prince. At his birth it
was predicted that he would take his father’s throne, so he was kept
isolated
and imprisoned for his entire youth. As a test to see what he’s really
like, the young man was brought while sleeping to court. When he awakes he is
no longer in a solitary cave but finds himself in sudden splendor, and he can’t
believe it, he thinks he’s dreaming. A courtier angers him and he kills
the courtier! When asleep again he’s taken back to his prison/cave,
and
when he wakes this time he doesn’t know what is real versus what is
illusion. Indeed, he wonders if life could all be a dream from which
death alone awakens one? Whatever the answer, he vows that if ever he
“dreams” of court again, he will act like a prince, and not like a boor.
He gets his chance and ultimately wins the kingdom, taking it as predicted from
his father. This play is still tremendously active in European theatres
(the Royal Lyceum theatre of Edinburgh brought a production to the Brooklyn Academy
of Music recently) and occasionally receives a production in a few of the bolder
theatres in the U.S.
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| from a 2008 Russian production |
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| Recognize the actor? |
reliable
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