Spanish Baroque Theater: Lope de Vega and Calderón de la Barca

The 17th Century: The Golden Age of Spanish Theater

Throughout the seventeenth century, despite the Inquisition, writers were active in all literary genres. However, the seventeenth century was definitively the century of theater.

The Popularity of Baroque Theater

During this century, the public demanded large quantities of plays for entertainment. Many of these works are lost because they were not typically printed or published, but a great quantity of works has been preserved. Because of this popularity, comedies were often performed in the backyards of tenements, adapted for these representations. This led to the proliferation of theater companies.

Defining the New Comedy: Characteristics

The theater of the seventeenth century introduced a series of new features that broke with previous conventions. The author who most effectively utilized these new features was Lope de Vega, who compiled them in a book entitled The New Art of Making Comedies. This work, which garnered both fans and detractors, established the concept of the "New Comedy."

Lope de Vega (1562–1635): Master of the New Comedy

Lope de Vega (1562–1635) possessed a very extensive body of work, claiming to have written 1,500 comedies in verse. Approximately 314 works are definitively attributed to him, along with 100 others. His plays focus less on the development of deep psychological issues or major characters and more on elaborate action and drama, as his main purpose was to entertain the audience. His works can be divided into two main themes:

• Historical and Legendary: As seen in Fuenteovejuna, where the townspeople kill the commander and, without disclosing the identity of the killer, the entire town collectively takes the blame—a decision ultimately approved by the king. Other works use historical events to develop fictional accounts.
• Comedy of Manners: An animated tangle of intrigue and arguments between characters, often involving romantic themes (also known as Comedia de capa y espada or 'swashbuckling comedy').

Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600–1681): Philosophy and Drama

Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600–1681) has over two hundred extant works. He began his theatrical career very young, modeling his first pieces after Lope de Vega. Later, he focused on works dealing with philosophy, morals, honor, and autos sacramentales (sacramental acts). Calderón is the most prominent author of this subgenre. Compared to Lope de Vega's theater, Calderón reduced the number of characters, which allowed for greater psychological depth and thematic density. His most outstanding works are: The Mayor of Zalamea, La dama duende (The Phantom Lady), and Life Is a Dream.