Baroque Theater: Mystery Plays and Spanish Golden Age Comedy

The Sacramental Mystery Plays

The sacramental mystery plays were essentially about the sacrament of the Eucharist. They perfected the symbolic use of allegory and featured a great development of spectacular scenery. The key features of these plays include:

• Structure: A single act.
• Purpose: The educational and religious exaltation of faith.
• Theme: A strong link to the feast of Corpus Christi and the Eucharistic theme.
• Style: Allegorical expression and sumptuous scenery.

Initially, mystery plays were staged in churches, but from the seventeenth century, they were performed in the streets on mobile platforms. These platforms housed musicians and actors wearing luxurious costumes. Music was an essential component, designed to engage the senses and foster a receptive attitude in the audience.

The National Comedy

In the seventeenth century, the Comedia Nueva (New Comedy) was consolidated. This domestic comedy was created by Lope de Vega and further developed by other playwrights, including Pedro Calderón de la Barca.

Characteristics of Baroque Comedy

• Mix of Tragic and Comic: Lope justified the mixture of tragedy and comedy, arguing that both elements exist in real life.
• Dramatic Units: To maintain credibility, Baroque playwrights often disregarded the classical units of time and place, adjusting the stage and timeline according to plot requirements.
• Unity of Action: This remained a general principle; all elements were integrated, allowing for two or three secondary actions if they led to the same conclusion. In some swashbuckling comedies, the units of time and place were kept to enhance the plot.

Structure and Decorum

• Division of Drama: Works were divided into three acts (jornadas): the exhibition (beginning), the node (middle), and the outcome (end). Acts were further divided into scenes (cuadros) defined by metric changes.
• Decorum, Language, and Polymetry: Dramatic decorum required that character behavior and language align with their social roles. Lope demanded pure, chaste language suited to the character's status. Polymetry—the use of a variety of meters and stanzas—was recommended to suit the specific situation.
• Themes and Characters: Common topics included honor and virtuous actions, alongside history and mythology. Characters were defined by their gender and social role, such as the Dama (Lady): the star of the comedy, who is beautiful, virtuous, and of noble lineage.