Coming soon from the University of Wales Press:

Golden Age Drama in Contemporary Spain: The Comedia on Page, Stage and Screen

Duncan Wheeler

This is the first book dedicated to the performance and reception of sixteenth and seventeenth century national drama in contemporary Spain. It contextualises the socio-historical background to productions of works by the country’s three major Spanish baroque playwrights (Calderón de la Barca, Lope de Vega and Tirso de Molina), whilst also providing detailed, accessible and jargon-free aesthetic analyses of individual stage and screen adaptations. Plot summaries of each of the plays discussed are included, and the extensive bibliography will provide an essential resource for academics, practitioners and students alike.

See the poster for full information:  Golden Age Drama in Contemporary Spain

AHRC-funded project ‘Out of the Wings’ presents its

2010 Symposium

‘Spanish Golden Age Drama in Translation and Performance’

at Merton College, Oxford

18-19 March 2010

REGISTRATION FORM AVAILABLE HERE:

Registration and Accommodation, Catering OTW ’10

Translating and performing the works of Miguel de Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina and Calderón de la Barca, and other playwrights of the Golden Age have sparked an increasing amount of interest, heightened by the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2004-5 Golden Age season. Our Symposium will be attended by both academic and theatrical practitioners working within the field of Golden Age drama, and a wider base of attendees interested in Spanish theatre in general, as well as University colleagues and students. Speakers will be drawn from the United States and Europe, representing a variety of areas of expertise in translation and performance of the comedia. Please explore our website (www.outofthewings.org) for more information on the project, and see the rest of the blog for past events.

Black and White Rainbow theatre company present our own David Johnston’s translation of this ‘mad’ play at the Trafalgar Studios in the New Year.

For more information see the London Theatre Guide article here.

Last week three members of the Out of the Wings team, namely David Johnston, Jonathan Thacker and Kathleen Jeffs traveled to New York for the Association for Theatre in Higher Education’s 2009 conference. Our seminar was a great success; 23 participants of our wiki-conversation which has been ongoing for the past year were in attendance. There never seems to be enough time to have the conversations, which seem to be over as soon as they begin, but the encounter continued with a post-seminar discussion and we hope it will continue into the future. Our preparatory conversation is available for viewing online. For the main site see the Main Wiki, and see here for our specific 2009 New York Seminar.

Specific thanks go to the Association for Hispanic Classical Theatre, particularly Ben Gunter and Susan Paun de Garcia, without whom the seminar would not have been possible.

For more information about the Association for Theatre in Higher Education see the ATHE Website or this year’s conference site, Risking Innovation.

Translating Golden Age drama brings up many questions of interpretation, form and meaning; but whether to translate the comedia in rhyming verse or not is still a heated debate. One translator, Gregary Racz, believes strongly that the comedia should be translated in verse, a view which has also been taken by Philip Osment in his rhyming, metrical Pedro the Great Pretender for the RSC’s Spanish Golden Age season, and by Victor Dixon in both his translations and his scholarship. Some translators, such as David Johnston, invent their own forms, keeping a regular metre but rhyming only in selected passages, such as sonnets. I invite your comments and views, readers; here is an article by Racz to get the conversation started (see p. 4-6 of this issue of ‘The Gotham Translator’).

The Case Against Preserving Meter and Rhyme in Poetic Translation: Theory or Practice?

American Society for Theatre Research
November 11-15, 2009
San Juan, Puerto Rico
THEATRE, PERFORMANCE, DESTINATION

There is a Golden Age Working Group, New Approaches to Plays from the Spanish Golden Age: Destiny, Nation Formation, & Puerto Rican Perspectives

The Working Group will divide into three teams: one working on Lo fingido verdadero, another on Fuente Ovejuna, and finally on Los melindres de Belisa. See the ASTR 2009 Call for Participants.  

Questions regarding this Session may be directed to the conveners at astr_gold_2009@yahoo.com

For general information please see the Conference Website.

This is a quick preview of the plays I’m currently working on for the Golden Age area of the site. Stay tuned for translations and contextual material.

La fuerza de la costumbre by Guillén de Castro

We have chosen this play, ‘Force of Habit’, because it is relatively unknown, as is its author, in the canon of comedias which are produced with some regularity. Brother and sister, separated at birth, grow up apart-Felix is brought up by his mother to speak softly, fear thunder and stitch, while Hipólita grows up with her father in a war zone, learning to wield a sword. This play asks the question: Is gender learned or innate?

El condenado por desconfiado by Tirso de Molina

The protagonist of ‘Damned for Despair’, Paulo is a hermit who lives in a cave in the wilderness as a devoted ascetic. In a nightmare, his soul is condemned, and he is plagued by the question: Will he go to Heaven or to Hell? The devil takes the form of an angel in order to trick him, kicking off a journey of faith and despair. This play has been performed in the UK but merits a fresh look with a view to future performances.

El castigo sin venganza by Lope de Vega

‘Punishment without Revenge’ is the tragedy of a noble family, in which a devoted son falls in love unexpectedly with his father’s new bride. A tale of incest, honour and revenge, this play is one of Lope’s better-known tragedies.

El conde Partinuplés by Ana Caro

In ‘Count Partinuplés’ the heroine Rosaura, Empress of Constantinople, is forced to choose a husband in order to provide an heir to the empire. Her cousin Aldora, a skilled magician, introduces her to occult ways of choosing a prince, and she chooses the Count Partinuplés of France, who is already engaged. This epic, magical play is unique in that it was written by a woman and its fantastical elements make the play a rarely-produced gem.

The Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) is an international collective of scholars, educators, and practitioners founded in 1986.  The association hosts an annual conference, where upwards of 1000 people gather to present panels, conduct demonstrations, meet world-famous theatre artists, and test-drive new ideas.

For the first time in ATHE’s history, this conference will feature a Seminar addressing the dramaturgy of the Siglo de Oro:  Strategies for Reviving Plays from the Spanish Golden Age, In Class and On Stage. Through pre-conference exchanges, in-conference discussions, and post-conference networking, this Seminar offers participants (and their auditors) extraordinary opportunities to share insights, interact with international experts, and forge new developments in the field.

The deadline for submitting an abstract is Nov 1, so if you’re interested in participating, read on!

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