Spain’s Golden Age of Theatre – From Liturgical Drama to Zarzuela and Comedia nueva
Introduction
to Spain’s Golden Age of Theatre
Just as Italy and England had their own
its own theatre Renaissance, Spain had its renaissance or Golden Age of
theatre. Spain’s Golden Age went for almost 100 years from 1585 through until
about 1685. The sources of influence for the emerging national theatre of Spain
of this period were as diverse as the theatre that nation ended up producing.
Storytelling traditions originating in Italian Commedia dell’arte, minstrel
entertainments and long poetic narratives and liturgical dramas are some of the
influences. This period saw the performing arts being patronized and saw not
only an increase in the number of plays written and performed but also the
emergence of some of the greatest playwright’s in the Spanish language. The
patronage and support of Spanish aristocrats meant that theatre flourished in
Spain during this period. This meant that theatre also opened itself up to the
working classes and was a highly accessible art form for all Spanish people.
The number and variety of Spanish plays
written and performed during the Golden Age was unprecedented in the history of
world theatre, surpassing, for example, the output of the English Renaissance
writers by three to four times. Around 30,000 plays were produced over this
period in Spain and they varied in style and subject matter. In its own time, this
prolific production helped to contribute to theatre's accessibility in Spain.
What separated Spain’s Renaissance in
theatre from the renaissance dramas of Italy and England is that Spain’s
renaissance simultaneously included secular and religious dramas and saw the
development of both forms. Additionally, state sponsored drama existed
harmoniously alongside popular for-profit theatre, with many theatre artists
contributing significantly to both. Stylistically, plays ranged from commedia
style plays to dramas to operas to greek style tragedies. Some specifically
Spanish forms of drama such as Zarzuela and Comedia nueva were
developed
Spanish
Liturgical Drama
From the 12th Century
onwards, Spain had developed a rich history of Liturgical Drama. The oldest
Liturgical Drama Auto de los Reyes Magos which
dates from around the 1145 was written in old Spanish. By the 16th
century, Easter Passion Plays and Christmas Liturgical Dramas (particularly
those that told the story of the Virgin Mary and the birth of Jesus) were
popular through many regions of Spain. A popular story which often appeared in
Easter pagaents was the visiting of Mary to Jesus’ grave after his resurrection
and this was a story often performed in Miracle plays of this period.
Lope
de Vega
One of the greatest playwright’s of this
period and a contemporary of Shakespeare, was Lope de Vega, the most prolific
playwright of all time. He wrote about 1500-1800 plays. His plays ranged in
style from pastoral romances such as La
Arcadia (1598) to fantastical fictionalized histories such as the story of
Sir Francis Drake’s last expedition as told in La Dragontea (1598) to morality dramas such as Las Flores de Don Juan (1605) to his Honor Plays. However, during
his day, Lope de Vega was most well known for his invention of the Three Act comedia. In 1609, Lope de Vega published
his artistic manifesto Arte Nuevo de
hacer comedias en este tiempo to validate his innovations and his break
away from the traditional three unities of place, time and action. Lope de Vega
boasted that many of his comedies only took 24 hours to write. Many of these
comedies can be described as having capa
y espada (cloak and dagger) plots. His most well known works today are El perro del hortelano (‘The Dog in the
Manger’) and La viuda de Valencia (‘The
Widow of Valencia’).
Baroque
Zarzuela and the
Some styles or forms of comic drama
started to emerge and come to prominence during this period and one of the most
famous of these was the Zarzuela form. This is a form of lyric drama which is
like musical theatre in that the dialogue and action alternates between spoken
dialogue and dialogue which is sung. This form of drama during this period is
sometimes referred to as Baroque Zarzuela to distinguish it from the Romantic
Zarzuela’s developed in Spain during the 19th century. The Zarzuela
form had an influence and developed in many Spanish colonies including in the
Philippines where it is known as sarsuela. One of the most significant playwrights
of this form during this Golden Age was Calderon de la Barca. Other
important figures were Gil Vicente, Lope de Rueda and Juan del Zorrilla who are
said to have helped developed the Commedia Nueva form. Two of the last of the
playwrights of this Golden Age were Tirso de Molina and Juan Rana.
Spain’s
Golden Age of Theatre Practical Exercises and Discussion
Do a reading of the following extract
from Lope de Vega’s The Demoniac. Discuss
the style of the piece. How might non-naturalistic acting styles such as commedia dell’arte, musical theatre,
melodrama and demonstrational acting help you to develop and perform this
scene.
The Demoniac
Characters
SARMIENTO
INES, his Daughter
PEDRO, INES’S Lover
GIL
PASCUAL
Scene 1
A Street.
ENTER GIL and PASCUAL.
Gil. No, master wiseacre, you had better not engage in a contest
with me; you would be sure to get the worst of it.
Pas. Silence, fool! I contest with you? Your wits are far from
great enough to tempt me to match mine against them. Everything you say is as
complete folly as ever I heard in my life.
Gil. Folly, it seems to you? Listen to me. Suppose, for the sake
of argument, that I am a hunter, have my musket slung across my back, and come
across country to an inn. Seven sparrows are sitting on the roof of the inn. I
take aim and kill two. How many remain?
Pas. A question, forsooth, to puzzle wiser heads. If there were
seven sparrows to begin with, and two are killed, five remain. Surely, that’s
clear?
Gil. Now I’ll show you what an ass you are. If I kill two with my
musket, the other five fly off. That’s clear as day!
Pas. To be sure!
Gil. Hence none remain.
Pas. I grant that I’m beaten.
Enter PEDRO.
Gil. Do you see that fellow coming up here? We had better go, for
the devil walks abroad.
(Exeunt.)
Pedro. Thank Heaven they are gone. I can hardly step out into the
street without meeting these enemies of my heart; for that they are. It is
their master’s daughter who, fair as an angel, so fills my soul that I may
neither eat nor sleep, but ever like a rocket ascend athwart the sky. It is her
wish to speak to me at this hour. Hist! hist, lady!
Ines (at window). Who is there?
Pedro. Who could it be but I — I, whose soul is steeped in
adoration of the divine beauty of your eyes!
Ines. Leave compliments aside, and never cross the street again.
My father and my brothers have become aware of the way you haunt our house, and
it has caused me great annoyance. Therefore, go! Good luck to you, but never
return.
Pedro. Is this possible, sweet lady? Can you drive me away thus? I
must return! Leave me not so forsaken in the world!
Further
Readings and Resources on Spain’s Golden Age of Theatre
de Armas, F.
2004. Writing for the Eyes in the Spanish Golden Age. Bucknell
University Press. Lewisburg.
Frier, F.R.
1977. Lope de Vega. Insel Press. Frankfurt am Main.
Ibanez, M.A.P.
2004. Lope de Vega: Edicion y Estudio. Eneida Press. Madrid.
Larson, D. 1977.
The Honor Plays of Lope de Vega. Harvard University Press. Cambridge MA.
Trueblood, A.
1974. Existence and Artistic Expression in Lope de Vega. Harvard
University Press. Cambridge MA.
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