Social Justice in Spanish Golden Age Theatre

This chapter asks the questions: ‘what is the Spanish Golden Age and why should we stage its plays now?’ The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) Spanish season of 2004–5 came at a particularly ripe time for Golden Age plays to enter the public consciousness. This chapter introduces the Golden Age period and authors whose works were chosen for the season, and the performance traditions from the corrales of Spain to festivals in the United States. The chapter then treats the decision taken by the RSC to initiate a Golden Age season, delves into the play-selection process, and discusses the role of the literal translator in this first step towards a season. Then the chapter looks at ‘the ones that got away’, the plays that almost made the cut for production, and other worthy scripts from this period that deserve consideration for future productions.

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Staging the Spanish Golden Age

10.1093/oso/9780198819349.001.0001 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Kathleen Jeffs

Keyword(s):

Golden Age ◽

Common Goal ◽

Collaborative Model ◽

Spanish Golden Age ◽

Creative Processes ◽

Collaborative Strategies ◽

And Performance

This book offers first-hand experiences from the rehearsal room of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2004–5 Spanish Golden Age season in order to put forth a collaborative model for translating, rehearsing, and performing Spanish Golden Age drama. Building on the RSC season, the volume proposes translation and communication methodologies that can feed the creative processes of working actors and directors, while maintaining an ethos of fidelity with regards to the original texts. A successful theatrical ensemble thrives on the mingling of these different voices directed towards a common goal. The work carried out during this season has repercussions in the areas comedia critics debate on the page; each of the chapters engages with one area of these overlapping disciplines. Now that the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Spanish Golden Age season has closed, this book posits a model for future productions of the comedia in English, one that recognizes the need for the languages of the scholar and the theatre artist to be made mutually intelligible by the use of collaborative strategies, mediated by a consultant or dramaturg proficient in both tongues. This model applies more generally to theatrical collaborations involving a translator, writer, and director, and is intended to be useful for translation and performance processes in any language.

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