Early Modern Mixtures in England, Spain, and the New World (1500s–1600s)

Abstract

This chapter explores English Renaissance theatre in England, with all-male companies and the “university wits,” as well as Shakespeare, not following neoclassical rules, yet often drawing on classical comedies and tragedies, their own British history, and pastoral fantasies, with interwoven subplots. It considers various aspects of public, private, and court theatres, with playwrights using spoken décor to evoke spectators’ imaginations and revealing characters’ inner theatres with asides and soliloquies. It then looks at Spain’s late-developing religious dramas and secular “Golden Age” plays, with various aspects of corral (courtyard) theatres. It investigates Aztec god-actor sacrifices, which conquistadors and priests prevented in New Spain, yet documented, and a play by Sor Juana that allegorizes such cultural conflicts.