Spanish Golden Age Drama: Evolution and Key Figures

Posted on May 22, 2025 in Latin

Spanish Golden Age Theater

16th Century Theater

Religious Theater

Religious theater in the 16th century focused on Christmas scenes centered around Christ, aiming to evoke piety in the audience. These were short pieces performed inside temples by clerics. Later, mobile carts were used for representations.

Profane Theater

  • Bartolomé Torres Naharro

    His themes included honor and the figure of the servant. He used verse and divided his works into five parts, often performed in workshops.

  • Lope de Rueda

    Known for short, humorous pieces featuring fixed character types (pasos).

  • Juan de la Cueva

    Wrote 10 plays and 4 tragedies. His tragedies introduced innovations such as thematic variety, four acts, the use of polymetry, and the mixing of tragic with comic elements. These innovations influenced later trends.

17th Century Theater: Venues and Performance

During the 17th century, venues for fictional representations grew significantly.

Corrales de Comedias

These were open spaces, courtyards, or interiors of houses or hospitals. All social strata attended these performances. The set was very simple, typically a stage with a curtain, designed to represent both indoor and outdoor scenes. Private boxes (aposentos) were located deep inside the surrounding houses for main characters or patrons.

Courtly Companies

Philip IV gave significant momentum to court representations, primarily in two locations:

  1. The Alcázar of Madrid
  2. The Palace of Buen Retiro

These productions featured spacious scenarios and much more complex sets.

Performance Structure

Performances typically began around 2 or 3 PM to take advantage of sunlight. They followed a fixed structure:

  1. A loa (a prologue or praise)
  2. Between acts, entremeses (interludes), sainetes (short farcical plays), and jácaras (ballads) were performed.
  3. The performance concluded with a dance or a skit.

Lope de Vega: The Father of Spanish National Theater

Lope de Vega introduced a mixture of classical and comical action, often featuring a secondary plot. He broke the unities of time and place. His works were typically divided into three acts: a beginning, middle, and end. He showed a strong preference for addressing the theme of honor.

Character Archetypes

  • The Galán (Leading Man): Characterized by beauty, youth, idealism, patience, and love. Often driven by honor and jealousy.
  • The Gracioso (Funny Servant): A gallant servant who often stands as a master, confident, witty, and humorous.
  • The Dama (Lady): A single or married young noblewoman, virtuous, bold, and very consistent in love. The maid is often her confidante and partner to the gracioso.
  • The Poderoso (Powerful One): An unjust and despotic noble who generates conflict. Only the King can punish him.
  • The Knight, Father, Husband, or Brother: Responsible for restoring the honor of a fallen woman.
  • The Villano (Villain/Peasant): A rich peasant who is not noble but argues for his purity of blood.
  • The King: Has two roles. When young, he can be unjust and proud; when old, he may be wise and clever.

Lope’s Major Works

  • Dramas of Unjust Power

    These plays address the abuse of power by a noble or king. If the king is involved, all must submit and resign.

    • The Best Mayor, The King
    • Fuenteovejuna
  • Dramas of Honor

    These address the social issue of honor. The individual is subject to very rigid rules of behavior. The protagonist is torn between rules and feelings, but the rules always prevail. The responsibility to restore honor falls to the husband, father, or brother.

    • Punishment Without Revenge
  • Comedies of Love

    Also known as comedies of manners or intrigue. Starring lovers, in the end, love triumphs, overcoming all barriers and social norms.

    • The Wedding Drama
    • The Dog in the Manger

The School of Lope

  • Guillem de Castro

    Known for his comic influence and interest in Italian art. His work influenced theater texts. He is also noted for the 16th-century abandonment of the Valencian language and the adoption of Castilian.

  • Juan Ruiz de Alarcón

    Characterized by brevity and care in style. His works feature unity of argument, interesting topics, and contained ethical and social themes.

    • The Hat of Three Peaks
    • The Truth Suspected
  • Tirso de Molina

    Wrote interludes and sacramental plays. His comedies included religious, historical, legendary, and customs themes. He possessed a great ability to construct satire and humor, reflecting contemporary reality with a didactic intention.

Calderón de la Barca: Master of Baroque Drama

Features of his Theater

  • Tendency to simplify the stage formulation, eliminating clutter.
  • Greater clarity in plot development and denouement.
  • Characters are hierarchically clustered around a key figure; the protagonist is the core.
  • Emphasizes action as an expression of monologues, revealing the inner thoughts of characters.
  • His vision of the Baroque.
  • Features Baroque scenography and complicated language.

Calderón’s Styles

  1. Plays close to Lope de Vega’s comedies.
  2. Plays predominantly religious, philosophical, theological, and mythological, where ideology is more important than anything else.