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The Old Corrals of Spain
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 October 2010
Extract
When Europe moved from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance, dramatic representations became markedly divided into secular and religious performances. No longer adjuncts of liturgical drama, the secular plays took on a certain autonomy. They became an aspect of civic life and were produced and presented by professional playwrights and performers. Needless to say, the church courtyard and cathedral steps could no longer be used as stages. The company directors and their actors took to public squares and city streets but, for convenience or necessity, were obliged to set up their stages in the open spaces between houses, in patios of large houses, or in the corrals of large apartment houses. These early and temporary theaters were put together only when the occasion arose; they were in no sense permanent playhouses.
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- Copyright © American Society for Theatre Research 1963
References
NOTES
1. See Rámila, Israael Garcia, Breves notas sobre la historia del teatro burgalés en el transcurso de los siglos XVI al XVIII, Madrid, 1951.Google Scholar This also appeared as an article in the Boletin de la Real Academia de la Historia, 1951.
2. The Spanish Stage in the Time of, Lope de Vega, New York, 1909.
3. There is a description of this corral in Luis Vélez de Guevara's La Baltasara (ca. 1635), Act. I.
4. See Merimée, Henri, Spectacles et comédiens à Valencia, Toulouse, 1913.Google Scholar
5. See Grau, Mariano, El teatro en Segovia, Segovia, 1958.Google Scholar
6. El arte en el teatro, Barcelona, 1875. See also Ventura, Luis Mur, Efemérides Oscenses, Huesca, 1928.Google Scholar
7. For a full history of Ganassa see Falconieri, John V., Historia de la Commedia dell'Arte en España, Madrid, 1957.Google Scholar First appeared in Revista de Literatura, Fasc. 21, 22.
8. Sepúlveda's, RicardoEI Corral de la Pacheca, Madrid, 1888Google Scholar, in spite of its many defects, still remains the fundamental history of this corral.
9. One such curious account may be found in an interlude by Luis Quiñones de Benavente-an inadvertent description (ca. 1640) of a corral which conforms perfectly with our notion of its form:
“Wise and critical benches (bancos)
Well-intentioned stands (gradas)
Merciful galleries (barandillas)
Learned attics (desvanes) of my soul
Chambers (aposentos) that in silence
know how to make up for our errors.
Yes, Spanish infantry
(for now it is unfashionable
to call ye musketeers),
Ladies who in yonder cage (jaula)
give forth with whistles and keys
in the early afternoon,
Here ye have me, I'm at your service …”