This bilingual anthology brings together a collection of Spanish entremeses, the comic interludes that were performed between the acts of a comedia. Penned by authors such as Lope de Rueda, Cervantes, Calderón, Quevedo, and Quirós, many of these plays appear for the first time in English. Translated for performability, these plays create a panoramic view of one-act plays from Spain’s classical theater period.
Presented with discussions of dramaturgical and performance possibilities and difficulties, including relevant historical, cultural, and social information for the plays, the collection opens with two precursors to the entremés, moves through the breadth of the entremés form, and concludes with works from the 18th century, including a sainete, the one-act form that follows the entremés historically. There are also examples of trans-adaptation that show how these works can be interpreted through strong directorial concepts that relocate the plays in historical time and location.
The selected plays represent a variety of purposes, including prominent entremés authors and common characteristics and attributes of the pieces in terms of characters and performance, and are useful for research, pedagogy, and performance.
