Baroque Theater: Religious, Court, and Corral Stages

Posted on Dec 14, 2024 in Latin

During the seventeenth century, Baroque theater reached its greatest fullness. The three forms that coexisted in this period were:

Religious Drama
- Developed through the sacramental mystery.
- Short pieces that developed in one act and presented characters in abstract form of allegory.
- Sought religious subjects in which a conflict between good and evil, where good always triumphs.
- Represented at the celebration of Corpus.
- In the Counter-Reformation, it was an effective means to convey to people the tenets of Catholicism.
Court Theater
- Represented in gardens and halls of palaces.
- Great innovations in art, which allowed for special effects, made great theater.
The Corrals
- Theater known for excellence.
- Assistance to the corrals were big social events since it was the most popular show of the time.

Patios surrounded by houses.
At one end of the courtyard stood the stage, without scenery and sometimes even a curtain.
In the courtyard, most of the popular audience was concentrated.
Given the scenario where there were several banks, a charge had to be paid for access.
Behind the benches, the men of the town were standing.
Cazuela (raised area at the other end).
Chambers (balconies and windows overlooking the courtyard where nobles were seated).
Representations were made early in the afternoon to take advantage of the light.
For the public to not act bored between acts, shorter representations were made.
Started with a loa (presentation in verse) and the first act of comedia.
Before the second act, an appetizer (humorous short piece) was staged.
After the second act, songs were featured, or a dance was performed.
After the third act, it ended with a skit or a new starter.

Lope initiated a unique theater. This new type of theater was named comedia nueva.
The renewal was based on the breakdown of the classic rules:
- Rejection of the three units of time, place, and action.
- Lope used numerous scenarios, and striking dynamism brought to the show.
- The long time is all that is needed, as it introduces a variety of events that cannot happen in one day.
- Along with the main action (represented by the lady and gentleman), a secondary action is given, which serves as a contrast (between maid and servant).
- Added varied characters, producing animation and contrast to the show.
The work is presented in three acts and not five as in classical literature.
Mixture of tragic and comic.
Using different types of verse and stanzas, polymetry.
Structuring sets of characters: the lady, the beau, the servant, the maid, the villain, the king, the powerful.
Convergence of dramatic action in the feeling of love and honor, and dishonor that must always be restored as an act of justice.
Collating elements of lyric: songs and dances that encourage, give color, and striking spectacle.

Honor: It was the privilege of the nobles, inherited and based on the value and the lineage of ancestors.
Virtue: It was a personal virtue that is not inherited and which was based on the view that others had of oneself, so it usually pertained to women.

Reflects a pessimistic and conservative view.
His theater is a cult. It raises deep issues through symbolic characters, with an elaborate plot and styles, and is very careful.
Life is seen as a dream from which one wakes up at death.
The world is seen as a theater in which each acts as the role assigned to the Author-God.
A theater of ideas and symbols:
- Eliminates the least important and explores the theme, plot, and unnecessary scenes.
- Only characters are eliminated.
- There is a main character and a single theme; the other characters and themes are subordinate to a second plane.
- His worldview is expressed through arguments that show his philosophical and theological formation.
The language: It is typical of the Baroque: Conceptismo and Culteranismo.
Characters: They are very elaborate and anything but superficial.
The art director: He introduced numerous innovations and resources available to the court theater.

Religious dramas.
Sitcoms (or cloak and dagger): creating frames with misunderstandings and entanglements.
Mythological drama: In which language is very cultured.
Dramas of honor and jealousy: The theme of honor is so strict that the suspected infidelity of a woman is a reason to justify the death of this woman.
Philosophical drama: The most important is Life is a Dream, which expresses the existential angst of the Baroque in which questions of life as a dream that can end at any time.
Sacramental acts show any capacity for reflection and theological and philosophical reasoning. The Great Theater of the World.