Spanish Renaissance Drama: Key Figures and Theatrical Evolution (16th Century)

The Theater of the 16th Century

The First Half: Early Renaissance Drama

A generation of playwrights emerged, marking the beginning of Renaissance drama. Key figures include Juan del Encina, Bartolomé Torres Naharro, and Gil Vicente.

Juan del Encina

Encina represents the transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. He began by writing religious drama and evolved toward secular theater, including mythological themes. His work is significant for the later evolution of the stage because of the inclusion of the bobo (fool) or rustic character. This funny character is a precursor to the characteristic figures of Baroque theater.

Bartolomé Torres Naharro

Torres Naharro incorporated new motifs and characters into comedies that dealt with themes of honor. His works can be divided into two types:

• Comedies of News (Comedias a noticia): Realistic, using simple language.
• Comedies of Fantasy (Comedias a fantasía): Featuring imaginative themes while maintaining verisimilitude.

Gil Vicente

Gil Vicente wrote farces and masques. His most decisive contribution to the later stage was the introduction of lyrical elements into his work, such as romances (ballads) and carols.

The Second Half: Corrales and Professional Companies

The corrales de comedias (public theaters developed in courtyards) appeared, where performances were developed for society. The audience was stratified: the common public occupied the courtyard (patio), while authorities and upper classes were seated in the upper galleries (galerías superiores).

Following the establishment of repertory theater, important professional theater companies were born. The most significant corrales were those in Madrid, Seville, and Valencia, where both religious and secular plays were performed.

Within secular theater, works were distinguished between:

• Classicism, such as Cervantes' La Numancia.
• The New Comedy, influenced by Italian works.

Lope de Rueda and the Pasos

Lope de Rueda is considered the creator of the Renaissance comedy of pasos (short farcical interludes), a type of popular theater. His comedy was based on the new Italian style but transformed it by eliminating the more classical and cultured elements, adding instead the comic skits or pasos.

Rueda's language relies on realistic slang and colloquialisms. He employed a schematic creation of characters that were repeated across different works, such as the fool (bobo), the Moor, and the black character.

The paso was the antecedent of the entremés (interlude or hors d'oeuvre), very brief plays performed during the intermission or at the end of other representations. Notable examples include Las Olivas, El Cornudo y contento, and La Tierra de Jauja. His theater was crucial to the subsequent development of the theater of Lope de Vega.

Other Forms of 16th-Century Drama

Alongside the public corrales, there was courtier theater (performed for the nobility) and morality plays (autos sacramentales). Morality plays were short pieces dealing with religious issues, often staged outdoors in front of churches.