A New Anthology of Early Modern Spanish Theater Play and Playtext

708 Pages·2015·4.42 MB·English

by  Mujica, Bárbara

A NEW ANTHOLOGY OF
EARLY MODERN SPANISH THEATER
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A NEW ANTHOLOGY OF
EARLY MODERN SPANISH THEATER
Play and Playtext
Bárbara Mujica
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
New Haven and London
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Copyright © 2014 by Yale University. All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form
(beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and
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Yale University Press books may be purchased in quantity for educational, business,
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Publisher: Mary Jane Peluso
Editor: Tim Shea
Publishing Assistant: Ashley E. Lago
Manuscript Editor: David Pritchard
Production Editor: Ann-Marie Imbornoni
Production Controller: Maureen Noonan
Designed by Mary Valencia.
Set in Minion type by Newgen North America.
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A new anthology of early modern Spanish theater : play and playtext / Bá rbara Mujica,
Georgetown University.
pages cm
Text of plays in Spanish, with introduction and commentary in English.
Includes bibliographical references.
isbn 978-0-300-10956-6 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Spanish drama—Classical period,
1500–1700. I. Mujica, Barbara Louise, editor of compilation.
pq6217.n49 2013
862′.308—dc23 2012045747
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This paper meets the requirements of ansi/niso z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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CONTENTS
Preface vii
Introduction 1
An Allegory for the Twenty-First Century 23
Auto da barca da Glória, by Gil Vicente 29
Feisty Wives, Gullible Husbands 42
Cornudo y contento, by Lope de Rueda 46
Women on Top 50
La cueva de Salamanca, by Miguel de Cervantes 59
Something for Everyone 67
Fuenteovejuna, by Félix Lope de Vega 79
Lope’s Most Puzzling Play 119
El caballero de Olmedo, by Félix Lope de Vega 127
The Sacred and the Political 170
Santa Teresa de Jesús, attributed to Félix Lope de Vega 179
An Answer to Henry Higgins 226
La Serrana de la Vera, by Luis Vélez de Guevara 235
Hell-Bent on Women 288
El burlador de Sevilla, by Tirso de Molina 298
Don Gutierre—Monster or Victim? 349
El médico de su honra, by Pedro Calderón de la Barca 358
The Stuff of Dreams 403
La vida es sueño, by Pedro Calderón de la Barca 421
All the World’s a Stage 468
El gran teatro del mundo, by Pedro Calderón de la Barca 478
Women Fight Back 502
Valor, agravio y mujer, by Ana Caro 511
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vi Contents
The Allure of Scandal 554
La monja alférez, by Juan Pérez de Montalbán 561
Mr. Mom 599
El parto de Juan Rana, by Pedro Francisco Lanini y Sagredo 603
Playing the Fop 609
El lindo don Diego, by Agustín Moreto y Cabaña 614
Glossary of Theatrical Terms 665
Bibliography 673
Index 687
Credits 697
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PREFACE
I
have called this book A New Anthology of Early entremeses, as well as comedias written by politically
Modern Spanish Theater: Play and Playtext for marginalized groups, such as women. And when
two reasons. First, no teaching anthology of they do study canonical works, their focus is often
sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spanish the- on untraditional topics—the depiction of women,
ater has been published by a major publisher for gays, and ethnic minorities, questions of sexual
decades. Second, this is the fi rst anthology to focus ambiguity, popular elements in the comedia, the
on early modern plays as performance texts. subversive implications of plays once assumed to
The best-known teaching anthologies are Diez support the status quo. In recent years, the notion
Comedias del Siglo de Oro, edited by José Martel that early modern women accepted without demur
and Hymen Alpen, originally published in 1939, the harsh demands of the honor code has come un-
revised in 1968 by Leonard Mades, and reissued der fi re. Today’s scholars do not read plays solely
in 1985; Spanish Drama of the Golden Age, edited as “literature”; they are not interested primarily in
by Raymond R. MacCurdy, published in 1971 and the poetry of the work. For them, plays are a cul-
1979; and Antología del teatro del siglo de oro, edited tural phenomenon that provides a glimpse into
by Eugenio Suárez-Galbán Guerra and published the past.
in 1989. The most recent of these anthologies is The focus on theater as a cultural phenomenon
more than twenty years old. During the past two is not entirely new. Early in the last century Hugo
decades a few excellent specialized anthologies Rennert’s The Spanish Stage in the Time of Lope de
have appeared, such as Teresa Soufas’s collection Vega provided valuable information on theater life
of plays by women, but these are not suitable for a in the seventeenth century, including a description
general introduction to early modern theater. of the corral theater and a discussion of issues re-
In the past several decades approaches to teach- lating to sets, costumes, actors, and audiences. In
ing theater have changed and new plays have been his 1967 study, A History of the Spanish Stage from
discovered. Many instructors have abandoned an- Medieval Times until the End of the Seventeenth
thologies altogether, either because those that ex- Century, N. D. Shergold added to our knowledge
ist do not refl ect current research or because these of the Spanish stage by providing plans of theaters
instructors reject the very notion of a theatrical and facsimiles of theater documents that pre-
canon enshrined in an anthology. With this book I sent concrete evidence of theater practices. In the
have sought to respond to some of their concerns. 1970s John Varey, in collaboration with Shergold,
Since the 1970s comedia studies have shifted in published the Teatros y comedias en Madrid series,
focus as younger scholars have moved beyond the which provided documentation on the regulation
parameters set by earlier generations. Postmodern- of theaters, theater administration, the participa-
ism has called into question the boundaries be- tion of religious brotherhoods in the corral the-
tween “high” and “low” forms of expression, stress- ater, and attempts by the monarchy to control the
ing the pluralistic and popular aspects of culture. conduct of actors and to impose norms on public
By dismantling the dichotomy between “center” morality. In subsequent publications Shergold and
(nucleus of power) and “margins,” thinkers such Varey provided bibliographical information on ac-
as Jacques Derrida launched an exploration of the tors as well as on fi nancial information relevant to
cultural output of what they called the repressed the theater. In Representaciones palaciegas: 1603–
Other, that is, those groups removed from the 1699, they reproduced documents itemizing costs
seats of infl uence. Spurred by postmodern literary of everything related to court theater, from candle
theory, today’s critics are questioning long-held as- wax to the rental of rehearsal space. Los libros de
sumptions about the validity of the traditional co- cuentas de los corrales de comedias de Madrid: 1706–
media canon. They are exploring “marginal” forms 1719, which Varey wrote with Charles Davis, repro-
of theatrical experience such as jácaras, pasos, and duces account books from the eighteenth century.
vii
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viii Preface
The research of Varey and others helps us to un- with Teresa de Ávila as a cultural phenomenon, I
derstand theater as a social, political, and economic have included the diffi cult-to-fi nd Santa Teresa de
phenomenon of which plays are only a part. Jesús, attributed to Lope de Vega.
Postmodernism has led many scholars to favor Those canonical plays that I have included are
the term “early modern” over Golden Age, a switch presented in a new light. While traditional liter-
in terminology that is signifi cant for a number of ary introductions glorify the author, sometimes
reasons. From the fi fteenth century on, the new, independent of the cultural context, postmodern
self-aware hombre moderno begins to emerge in criticism de-emphasizes the author. When Roland
Spain. During this period the sense of selfhood de- Barthes spoke of the death of the author and Michel
velops that will characterize Western thinking until Foucault asked “Qu’est-ce qu’un Auteur?,” they
our own time. The term “early modern” implies a both suggested in different ways that the author is
new conceptual confi guration. As Leah Marcus ex- not a transhistorical being and that the “universal
plains, it helps us “to see the concerns of modern- truths” that he (or, occasionally, she) conveys are
ism and postmodernism in embryo—alienation, not necessarily universal at all. In their view, the
a disjunction from origins, profound skepticism text is independent of the author in the sense that
about the possibility for objectivity . . . , an empha- it refl ects the values of the people—the intellec-
sis on textual indeterminacy as opposed to textual tual and power elite—who have made it canoni-
closure and stability, and an interest in intertextu- cal. These critics were instrumental in the move
ality instead of fi liation” (43). The new terminology away from the author-based approach and toward
looks forward toward the advent of a new outlook the broader-based cultural-studies approach. In
that characterizes modernity and is apparent in the introductions to the plays included here, I of-
many of the plays in this collection. Furthermore, fer little biographical information. I do, however,
“early modern” connotes eclecticism. While the explore many of the cultural issues raised by these
term “Golden Age” is traditionally used to refer to plays: attitudes toward those who are outsiders or
studies in literature or art, “early modern” is multi- “different,” the importance of money and mercan-
disciplinary, comprising a wide range of fi elds that tilism, classism and sexism, society and religion.
includes cultural anthropology, sociology, gender During the last two decades another shift has
studies, and economics. And while “Golden Age” taken place in Spanish theater studies: the focus
implies a canonical approach—the study of works has turned to performance. The most radical way
deemed “golden” by a cultured elite—“early mod- in which this New Anthology departs from tradi-
ern” proposes a reexamination of the canon with tion is in its insistence on the playability of the texts
an eye toward broadening and revitalizing it. included. I have sought to encourage students to
In the compilation of plays for this anthology, see the anthologized works as performance pieces.
I have been infl uenced by this new outlook. Be- For years these plays were almost always read and
fore making a fi nal selection of plays, I solicited analyzed as though they were stories, with little
the opinions of many scholars in the fi eld. Most thought given to their staging. Of course, a few
insisted that certain canonical works were indeed scholars did mention aspects of dramatization.
essential to any course on early modern theater, Even proponents of the New Criticism, a literary
yet wanted a broader range of materials than those approach that assigned primary importance to
offered by earlier anthologies. Those seeking the “close reading,” occasionally commented on per-
“old standards” will fi nd them: Fuenteovejuna, El formance aspects of plays. While combing theatri-
caballero de Olmedo, El burlador de Sevilla, and La cal texts for clues to meaning, they found indica-
vida es sueño. In addition, they will fi nd a little- tions of how a work was presented to the public.
studied auto (Barca da Glória), a woman-authored For example, in The Allegorical Drama of Calderón,
play (Valor, agravio y mujer), and a Juan Rana farce Alexander Parker provides many insights into the
newly discovered by Peter Thompson. Because of staging of autos sacramentales, including informa-
the increased interest in gender issues, I have in- tion on the placement of carts, the positioning of
cluded two plays that deal specifi cally with sexual actors, and costuming.
ambiguity: La Serrana de la Vera and El parto de However, the real stimulus for the new focus
Juan Rana. And because of the soaring fascination on performance came less from Hispanists than
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Preface ix
from theater theorists such as Kier Elam, Peter The texts contained in this book are compiled
Brook, and Martin Esslin, and from the creation from the most accurate sources available. Often I
of the annual Golden Age Theater Festival at the consulted numerous editions, old and new. The
Chamizal National Memorial Theater in El Paso, one exception is El parto de Juan Rana, a newly
Texas. The success of the festival among scholars discovered play, which Peter Thompson has kindly
was due largely to the efforts of Donald Dietz, then given me permission to print. It is anthologized
president of the Association of Hispanic Classical here for the fi rst time. I have modernized the spell-
Theater, which held its annual conference in con- ing of all texts, except in the instances cited in the
junction with the festival. Dietz promoted the idea general Introduction to this book. Each text has
of videotaping the performances. By making the been carefully annotated. Footnotes clarify diffi -
tapes available to scholars and students, the AHCT cult words, historical or mythological references,
fostered research on performance and made it pos- and obscure allusions and names. Most footnotes
sible for instructors to include discussion of actual are in Spanish, although in some cases I found it
productions in their classrooms. In recent years the more expedient to use English. Theatrical and lit-
AHCT has held symposia in Almagro, Stratford- erary terms are marked with a cross (+) and are
upon-Avon (England), and Washington, D.C., defi ned in the Glossary at the end of the book. A
where members have been able to attend perfor- list of discussion topics is found at the end of each
mances of comedias in Spanish or English. selection. Because of its importance to our under-
standing of the comedia, Lope de Vega’s Arte nuevo
de hacer comedias en nuestros tiempos appears on
Each chapter in this anthology consists of two the accompanying website (yalebooks.com/mu-
parts: an introduction and a text. The introduction jica), as do Calderón’s La dama duende and a list of
is designed to facilitate student comprehension productions mentioned in this book.
and promote classroom discussion. It provides stu-
dents with a plot summary and an overview of ma-
jor themes, pertinent criticism, and performance- The compi lation of this anthology has been a long
related issues. While in some cases the introduction and arduous task, and I am indebted to many peo-
focuses on topics related to seventeenth- century ple for their support. During much of the time I
performance, more often it highlights modern was working on this project, my son was serving
productions. Many of these are available digitally in the U.S. Marine Corps in Iraq. Constant worry
through the AHCT video library, housed at Grand sometimes made it diffi cult for me to work. I am
Valley State University in Allendale, MI.1 Postmod- relieved that he has completed his two tours of
ern criticism has stressed the fl uid nature of “text,” duty and returned home. I am grateful to Mary
the notion that the meaning of a body of words is Jane Peluso, Publisher, and to Elise Panza, Edito-
not fi xed but varies according to the perspective of rial Assistant, for their patience during this trying
the receptor. This is even truer for a performance time. I also wish to express my thanks to the rest
text, which passes through many fi lters before it of the Yale University Press staff. I greatly appreci-
reaches the spectator. The creator of a performance ate the input of the following colleagues who read
text is not only the author, but also the director, the manuscript and offered useful suggestions:
actors, set designer, sound and lighting engineers, Donald T. Dietz, Association for Hispanic Clas-
and costumers. An important objective of the in- sical Theater, Inc.; Ángel Sánchez, Arizona State
troduction to each selection is to encourage stu- University; Anita K. Stoll, Cleveland State Univer-
dents to see the text as one element of many that sity; Matthew Stroud, Trinity University; and Amy
contribute to the creation of a play. Williamsen, University of Arizona. Finally, I wish
to thank my husband, Mauro E. Mujica, and my
1. See the website of the Association for Hispanic Classical The-
ater for additional information, or write to [email protected]. children for their love and encouragement.
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