17th-Century Spanish Theater: Lope de Vega & Calderón de la Barca

17th-Century Spanish Theater

Religious Theater

Manifested through mystery plays, short allegorical pieces presented within religious ceremonies, often depicting abstract figures and themes like the Eucharist or communion.

Court Theater

Performed in palace gardens or halls, particularly during Philip IV's reign. Set design innovations allowed for spectacular special effects in mythological or fantastical comedies.

Structure of Plays

Plays began with a celebratory opening, followed by the first act. An interlude separated the first and second acts. Singing or a short greeting introduced the third act, concluding with a farce.

Lope de Vega

Poetry and Narrative

A skilled poet with a natural and accessible style. He wrote traditional lyric poetry, sonnets, epic poems, and works with religious and love themes, often drawing on autobiographical experiences to achieve emotional intensity. His prose narratives include Cervantine-style novellas, Byzantine novels, and pastoral romances.

Theater

Revolutionized theater, marking a clear distinction between pre-Lope and post-Lope drama. His "New Comedy" introduced numerous innovations:

• Rejection of the three unities (place, time, and action)
• Three-act structure
• Mixing of comic and tragic elements
• Use of various poetic forms
• Emphasis on decorum, the "gracioso" (jester) figure, and lyrical or comedic interludes.

Themes

• Religious themes: Sacramental plays and comedies.
• Historical and legendary Spanish comedies (e.g., The Gentleman from Olmedo), set in the Middle Ages and based on ballads, chronicles, and legends.
• Contemporary comedies of love and intrigue (e.g., The Dog in the Manger), filled with tangled plots and misunderstandings.

Characters

• The King: Represents power.
• The Powerful Noble: Often the antagonist, abusing power and causing conflict.
• The Knight or Gentleman: Upholds family honor and order.
• The Gallant and Lady: Young lovers.
• The "Gracioso" and the Maid: Provide comic relief. The "gracioso" is often a coward and liar, while the maid carries messages and provides information.

Calderón de la Barca

: [Theatre: Part of the formula of Lope, but clearly evolving in one direction, by removing the secondary and deeper into the work. Ideas and symbols: Language: difficult metaphors abound, antithesis, ellipses, on walls ... characters: very elaborate and sometimes the player takes on a symbolic dimension, scenery: it introduced many innovations and resources to boast courtly theater. ] [Calderón Theatre Topics: religious dramas, comedies contemporary entanglement or layer and back, mythological dramas, dramas of honor and jealousy, and self sacramental philosophical dramas.]