Research Interests & Academic Activities:

Spanish Golden Age Theatre

The Spanish Golden Age of theatre (roughly 1580-1680) was a period of great artistic activity and achievement in acting, play writing and staging. The growth of Spanish drama was part of a larger Golden Age of the literary and fine arts in Spain, which spans the 16th and 17th centuries. During this period, El Greco and Velázquez painted their masterpieces, and Miguel Cervantes wrote his famous novel, Don Quixote.

A few of the most famous plays of the period are: Life Is a Dream by Pedro Calderón de la Barca (to be performed here at the U of L March 23-27, 2010), Fuenteovejuna by Lope de Vega (recently presented in translation at the Stratford Festival), and The Trickster of Seville by Tirso de Molina (the first dramatic appearance of the legendary lover, Don Juan). In addition to Calderón, Lope de Vega and Tirso, there were many other major playwrights as well as numerous minor ones. The total number of dramatic works produced during this period was easily in the thousands.

The three major genres of Golden Age theatre are the “comedia”, the “auto sacramental”, and short, one-act comic pieces. “Comedias” are three-act dramas written entirely in verse that mix comic and tragic elements. “Autos sacramentales” are one-act religious allegories centred on the eucharist. Under the general title of short comic pieces there are many subgenres ("entremés", "mojiganga", "baile", etc.). These pieces were one-act farces mixing social satire, physical comedy and often music and dance. They were performed before, after and between the acts of full-length “comedias”.

In 17th Century Spain, dramatic works were principally performed in two places: open air commercial theatres, called “corrales de comedias” and palace venues. The image on the upper right is of an original and still functioning "Corral" theatre in Almagro, Spain. Staging in these commercial theatres was a relatively simple affair that depended largely on costumes and actors interacting with the simple stage area and eachother to create dramatic space. Palace performances, on the other hand, employed the latest in Italian theatrical engineering, and were elaborate, even by modern standards.

• To learn more about Spanish Golden Age Theatre and read plays in Spanish or translated into English, click here.
• To see a short video montage of stagings of Golden Age plays at the Almagro theatre festival in 2000, click here.
• To see a virtual reconstruction of the Príncipe theatre in the 17th Century by Dr. José Ruano de la Haza, click here.

Textual Criticism

Roughly speaking, textual criticism is a discipline concerned with the study and comparison of early manuscripts or editions of literary works in order to restore or reconstruct, as closely as possible, the author´s original and make it available to the modern reader. Perhaps the most well known branch of this discipline is the textual criticism of the New Testament.

Each body of literature presents a unique set of challenges related to the many factors (economic, social, mechanical, etc.) that may have affected the transmission of texts over time. An understanding these factors is essential to the textual critic’s success. In the case of Spanish Golden Age theatre, the textual critic has to develop a knowledge of, among other things: 17th century printers and printing practices; handwriting styles; the practice of copyists; the social and economic practices of theatre companies; laws and administrative practices relating to publishing and censorship; the relationship between playwrights and buyers; staging practices; political history; literature of the period and literature known to writers of the period; 17th century Spanish usage and vocabulary; science, theology and ideology of the period; and the list goes on.

The job of the textual critic is somewhat like that of a detective or a crime scene investigator who uses the available evidence to try to reconstruct what happened. One could also compare textual criticsim to the restoration of paintings that have become tarnished over time. The more the textual critic knows about the circumstances surrounding the production and transmission of the text, the more able he or she will be to accomplish the task of producing a reliable text that is accesible to the modern reader.

Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600-1681)

Calderón was one the most important playwrights of the Spanish Golden Age.

Whereas his predecessor, Lope De Vega, consolidated the dramatic forms and genres that characterize the Golden Age of Spanish theatre, Calderón polished and perfected them with his gifts for lyrical beauty, logic, characterization and philosophical complexity. In his mythological palace plays, Calderón developed a "total theatre" that brought together, poetry, spoken word, song, dance, music and the latest in Italian special effects. Richard Wagner (1813-1883), the great German composer of Opera, was an admirer of Calderón for this reason.

Calderón wrote 120 "comedias". The most famous of these are serious dramas like La vida es sueño [Life is a dream] and El alcalde de Zalamea [The mayor of Zalamea], but he also wrote a considerable number of urban love intrigues in the "capa y espada"' [cloak and sword] genre, such as La dama duende [The phantom lady] and No hay burlas con el amor [Love is no laughing matter]. Calderón also penned 20 one act comic pieces. Finally, Calderón composed 80 "autos sacramentales". In this genre, he excelled above all others, showing a seemingly inexhaustible capacity for giving new dramatic form to a given set of theological constructs.

Calderón was born in Madrid, Spain, in 1600. He was educated at the Jesuit Colegio Imperial and studied law at the University of Alcalá and the University of Salamanca. In 1621, he entered the service of the Constable of Castille, Don Bernardino Fernández de Velasco. Two years later, in 1623, he began writing plays for the court. The next two decades were his most productive in terms of his writing for the commercial theatres. For reasons that are not entirely clear, he became a priest in 1651 and ostensibly gave up writing commercial plays. Nevertheless, he continued to write mythological plays and musical dramas, which were elaborately staged in the palace theatres. He also continued to write two "autos sacramentales" per year for the city of Madrid until his death in 1681.

For more information on Calderón in Spanish, including links to his plays and a short biographical video, visit Cervantes Virtual.

"La fecha de composición de El Tuzaní de la Alpujarra o Amor después de la muerte de Pedro Calderón de la Barca." Bulletin of the Comediantes 61.1 (2009). [forthcoming]

"Calderón's ambiguity with respect to the moriscos in El Tuzaní de la Alpujarra." Anuario Calderoniano. 2 (2009): 111-27.

"El título de El Tuzaní de la Alpujarra o Amor después de la muerte de Pedro Calderón de la Barca." Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispánicos. 31.3 (Primavera 2008): 523-27.

"Un aspecto de la técnica dramática de Calderón: la geografía y la toponimia en El Tuzaní de las Alpujarras." En torno al Teatro del Siglo de Oro. Jornadas XXI-XXIII. Almería: Instituto de Estudios Almarienses, 2007. 83-92.

"Evidence Regarding the "Monte" Stage Piece in "Corral" Theatres of the 17th Century." AHCT Spanish Early Modern Theater Symposium, El Paso Texas. March 5-7, 2009.

"Calderón´s ambiguity regarding the morisco question in El Tuzaní de la Alpujarra: ethnocide 'con templanza'." La violencia en el teatro del Siglo de Oro. Stratford, Ontario. 26-28 de junio. 2008.

"Polimetría y estructura dramática en El Tuzaní de la Alpujarra de Pedro Calderón de la Barca." AHCT Spanish Early Modern Theater Symposium. El Paso, Texas. 1-3 March, 2007.

"Drama in the Spanish Golden Age (1580-1680): Aspects of Theatrical Production." The Department of English and Theatre Studies, The University of Guelph. 19 Nov. 2005.

"Un aspecto de la técnica dramática de Calderón: geografía y toponimia en El Tuzaní de la Alpujarra." XXI Jornadas de Teatro del Siglo de Oro. Almería. 19-21 Mar. 2004.

with J. M. Ruano de la Haza y J. Sánchez Velo. "La edición crítica moderna de obras dramáticas del Siglo de Oro." Seminario colectivo. The Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, The University of Ottawa. 10 Feb. 2003.

"La caracterización de Mireno en El vergonzoso en palacio de Tirso de Molina." XXXVII Congress of the Canadian Association of Hispanists. The University of Laval, Quebec City. 23-26 May 2001

"Entre la lectura y la puesta en escena clásica: El galán fantasma." Conferencia Internacional Calderón nuestro contemporáneo. The University of Ottawa, Ottawa. 4-8 Oct. 2000.

"Problematizing the Classical Staging of a 'cuadro' of El burlador de Sevilla: towards bridging literary and theatrical perspectives." XXXVI Congress of the Canadian Association of Hispanists. The University of Alberta, Edmonton. 25-27 May 2000.

"Sergio and the Other Protagonist: the Role of Sound in Memorias del subdesarollo." Voces e imágenes Latino Film Festival and Conference. The University of Wisconsin, Madison. 5-6 Nov. 1999.

Dr. Brent W. Devos

The Department of Modern Literatures

The University of Lethbridge

4401 University Drive

Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada

T1K 3M4

 

(403) 380-1857

Fax: (403) 329-5187

Email: brent.devos@uleth.ca