Other Current Spanish Playwrights
Other Current Spanish Playwrights
Lope de Vega* is not writing in isolation and many of his comtemporaries are very well known at this time. We no longer hear much about them but the best known are:
Guillen de Castro y Bellvis* (1569-1631) - a friend of de Vega and best known for his play, Las Mocedades del Cid* or The Youthful Adventures of the Cid which will provide the basis for the great French playwright, Corneille*'s play, Le Cid*. He also dramatizes parts of Don Quixote* by Cervantes*.
Tirso de Molina* (c. 1584-1648) - a friar who writes about 400 plays (we have about 80 now) before the Council of Castile makes him give it up (in 1625.) He is best known now for El Burlador de Sevilla* (The Trickster of Seville) which provides the first theatrical work of the Don Juan* story.
Juan Ruiz de Alarcon* (c. 1581-1639) - a government worker born in Mexico who writes about thirty plays. He is a lot picker about the quality of his plays which deal mostly with court life in Madrid. He does more with characterization and moral sentiment than his contemporaries.
In Italy, at Vincenza, the Teatro Olimpico* finally opens with a production of Oedipus Rex* designed by Angelo Ingegneri*. There is enough information preserved about this production to recreate it today.
In England the famous actor, Edward Allyen* (1566-1626) becomes head of the Lord Chamberlain's Men* who are currently touring with the Lord Admiral's Men*. William Shakespeare* (1564-1616) leaves his home in Stratford* headed for London theatre.
1586 - This year marks the beginning of Kabuki* theatre in Japan but nobody in Europe knows it.
This year also brings official licensing of women on the stage in Spain. 1587 Mary* Queen of Scots is finally executed.
There are Portuguese missionaries throughout Japan. The English send a colonizing group to Virginia (remember Jamestown?) but it vanishes so
they look to Ireland for room to colonize. 1588 The Spanish Armada* - This is the turning point for relations between England and
Spain. The Spanish have had enough of English interference and opposition what with that support of the rebel Dutch, excursions and colonial aspirations in the New World, opposing the Counter Reformation and generally being a thorn in their side. The Spanish decide to invade England with an army from the Netherlands and the Spanish fleet from Cadiz (which Francis Drake* made a terrific dent in the year before.) After several setbacks the Spanish Armada* gets under way in July with some 131 big ships and many small ones. From Plymouth the English spot the Spanish coming through the English Channel and the 80 ships of the English fleet sail out to meet them. What with greater maneuverability and bigger guns, the English drive them into a spot where they can send fire ships among them. This leads to a chase in which all of the Spanish ships are damaged. The Spanish try to sail around the British Isles through the North Sea, running into storms and wrecking on the various coasts of Norway, Scotland and Ireland. They limp home having lost 63 ships to England's none. Spanish prestige and power are damaged beyond repair and Spain never recovers. From here on out the English are upwardly mobile in the international power game. A boost in national pride and economy is also a boost for the English theatre.
Parts
» Euripides* And The Crumbling State
» Aristophanes* - He Who Laughs Last, Laughs Best
» Take The Frogs* for instance -
» Alexander And Logical Thinking
» Rome While all this is going on in the Greek-dominated Hellenistic world, the Romans* are busy
» Roman Writers c.275 BCE - c.110 BCE During The Era Of Senate Supremacy
» From Classical Light Into The Dark Ages The Fifth Century
» The End of the Western Empire in Italy
» Why Europe Isn't Very Interesting In The Sixth Century
» Islam* Enters Europe As We Enter The Eighth Century
» Vikings Move On As Does Islamic Culture
» Theatre Reappears In Bits And Pieces As We Move Onward Into The Tenth Century
» Europe Moves On Into The Eleventh Century
» As The Twelfth Century Begins Economic And Intellectual Profits
» The Third Crusade The One We All Remember
» More Crusades And A Small Renaissance As We Go Into The Thirteenth Century
» The Small Renaissance Part of the Century
» THEATRICAL PERFORMANCE SPACE IN CHURCH DRAMA -
» The Fourteenth Century And We Come To The Down Part Of The Late Middle Ages
» The Black Death* Comes To Europe
» Everything Takes Off In All Directions At Once
» The Renaissance Officially Begins
» Italian Theatrical Renaissance Gets Going
» Brief Consideration of the Range of Plays
» The Winds Of Reformation* Begin In Germany -
» Theatrical Scenery Takes Off
» Background for Spanish Theatre -
» Other Current Spanish Playwrights
» The English Renaissance 1588-1629
» Sources Of English Playwrighting
» William Shakespeare* -(1564-1616)
» English Settlements Begin In America
» Spanish Court Theatre Flourishes
» The French Theatre Finally Gets Up and Running Introduction
» Back in France Richelieu* Pushes Theatre Development
» English Religious Opposition Increases
» England Falls into Civil War
» English Restoration Theatre Begins
» Middle Class and Sentimental English Theatre
» Europe and America in Social Ferment
» Germany and the Beginnings of Romanticism
» American Revolutionary Times Begin
» Melodrama,* Popular Theatre, and Napoleon MELODRAMA*
» Realistic Elements In Production
» Political Philosophy Moves On
» The Mexican War* and Nationalism
» The 1848 Revolutions and Nationalism
» Some of his best known plays:
» 1908 - Theatre Theorists Publish
» New Connections, New Starts - 1911 -
» And After 1914-1925 Introduction
» The Russian Revolution - 1917
» America Draws Back Into Its Shell -
» Second World War and Its Aftermath
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