Comedias Del Siglo De Oro And Shakespeare

This issue of Bucknell Review is devoted to comparative studies of Shakespeare and seventeenth-century Spanish dramatists. The essays provide insight into Spanish drama of the Golden Age and by examining Shakespeare's plays in this unusual context suggest a direction for future research.

"The bringing of Spanish seventeenth-century verse plays to the contemporary English-speaking stage involves a number of fundamental questions. Are verse translations preferable to prose, and if so, what kind of verse? To what degree should translations aim to be 'faithful'? Which kinds of plays 'work', and which do not? Which values and customs of the past present no difficulties for contemporary audiences, and which need to be decoded in performance?Which kinds of staging are suitable, and which are not? To what degree, if any, should one aim for 'authenticity' in staging? In this volume, a group of translators, directors, and scholars explores these and related questions."--Jacket

Shakespeare and the Spanish Comedia is a nearly unique transnational study of the theater / performance traditions of early modern Spain and England. Divided into three parts, the book focuses first on translating for the stage, examining diverse approaches to the topic. It asks, for example, whether plays should be translated to sound as if they were originally written in the target language or if their “foreignness” should be maintained and even highlighted. Section II deals with interpretation and considers such issues as uses of polyphony, the relationship between painting and theater, and representations of women. Section III highlights performance issues such as music in modern performances of classical theater and the construction of stage character. Written by a highly respected group of British and American scholars and theater practitioners, this book challenges the traditional divide between the academy and the stage and between one theatrical culture and another.

This book compares the theatrical cultures of early modern England and Spain and explores the causes and consequences not just of the remarkable similarities but also of the visible differences between them. An exercise in multi-focal theatre history research, it deploys a wide range of perspectives and evidence with which to recreate the theatrical landscapes of these two countries and thus better understand how the specific conditions of performance actively contributed to the development of each country’s dramatic literature. This monograph develops an innovative comparative framework within which to explore the numerous similarities, as well as the notable differences, between early modern Europe’s two most prominent commercial theatre cultures. By highlighting the nuances and intricacies that make each theatrical culture unique while never losing sight of the fact that the two belong to the same broader cultural ecosystem, its dual focus should appeal to scholars and students of English and Spanish literature alike, as well as those interested in the broader history of European theatre. Learning from what one ‘playground’ – that is, the environment and circumstances out of which a dramatic tradition originates – reveals about the other will help solve not only the questions posed above but also others that still await examination. This investigation will be of great interest to students and scholars in theatre history, comparative drama, early modern drama, and performance culture.

Leading Golden Age theatre experts examine the ways that comedias have been adapted and reinvented, offering a broad performance history of the genre for scholars and practicioners alike.

In this volume, Kathleen Jeffs draws on first-hand experience of the Royal Shakespeare Company's rehearsal room for the 2004-05 Spanish Golden Age season to put forth a collaborative model for translating, rehearsing, and performing Spanish Golden Age drama. Building on the RSC season, the volume offers methodologies for translation and communication that can feed the creative processes of actors and directors, while maintaining an ethos of fidelity with regards to the original texts. It argues that collaboration between academics and theatre practitioners was instrumental in the success of the season and that the work carried out has repercussions for critical debate of Comedia. The volume posits a model for future productions of the Comedia in English, one that recognizes the need for the languages of the scholar and the theatre artist to be made mutually intelligible by the use of collaborative strategies, mediated by a consultant or dramaturg proficient in both tongues. This model applies more generally to theatrical collaborations involving a translator, writer and director, and will be useful for translation and performance processes in any language.

Approaches to the playtext applied to the works of Calderon and his contemporaries.

With its roots deep in ancient narrative and in various reworkings from the late medieval and early modern period, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet has left a lasting trace on modern European culture. This volume aims to chart the main outlines of this reception process in the broadest sense by considering not only critical-scholarly responses but also translations, adaptations, performances and various material and digital interventions which have, from the standpoint of their specific local contexts, contributed significantly to the consolidation of Romeo and Juliet as an integral part of Europe’s cultural heritage. Moving freely across Europe’s geography and history, and reflecting an awareness of political and cultural backgrounds, the volume suggests that Shakespeare’s tragedy of youthful love has never ceased to impose itself on us as a way of articulating connections between the local and the European and the global in cases where love and hatred get in each other’s way. The book is concluded by a selective timeline of the play’s different materialisations.