Review of Vidler, Laura L. Performance Reconstruction and Spanish Golden Age Drama: Reviving and Revising the Comedia. Palgrave Macmillan, 201

Abril Sanchez, Jorge

Renaissance Quarterly

English

UNH Scholars' Repository

University of New HampshireUniversity of New Hampshire Scholars' RepositoryLanguages, Literatures, and Cultures Scholarship Languages, Literatures, and Cultures8-1-2016Review: Vidler, Laura L. PerformanceReconstruction and Spanish Golden Age Drama:Reviving and Revising the ComediaJorge Abril SanchezUniversity of New Hampshire, Durham, jorge.abril.sanchez@unh.eduFollow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/lang_facpubThis Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at University of New Hampshire Scholars'Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Scholarship by an authorized administrator of University of NewHampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact nicole.hentz@unh.edu.Recommended CitationAbril Sánchez, Jorge. Abril Sánchez, Jorge. “Vidler, Laura L. Performance Reconstruction and Spanish Golden Age Drama: Revivingand Revising the Comedia. Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.” Renaissance Quarterly 69.2 (Summer 2016): 781-782. https://dx.doi.org/10.1086/687712Performance Reconstruction and Spanish Golden Age Drama: Reviving andRevising the Comedia. Laura L. Vidler.Palgrave Studies in Theatre and Performance History. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan,2014. xvi þ 188 pp. $90.This new monograph is a valuable contribution to the study of the staging practices ofSpanish Golden Age theater. According to Vidler, scholars have not paid enoughattention to these praxes. Since the late 1950s, only a few academics — such as Varey,Shergold, Allen, and Ruano de la Haza — have illustrated and imagined the modusoperandi of authors and theatrical companies in early modern Spain. Even on theseoccasions, their work has been limited to the gathering and recollection of historicaldocuments — such as contracts and lease agreements — that provide evidence of thearchitecture of the corrales, the division of space on the stage, and so forth. Indeed, little781REVIEWSThis content downloaded from 132.177.229.130 on June 19, 2017 08:49:14 AMAll use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c).has been done to try to reconstruct the original performance of a play. Vidler explains thecomplexity of the re-creation of the mise-en-scene by underscoring the ephemeralexistence of a live representation. In spite of all of this, she pursues her goal of reviving thespirit of a spectacle by examining the process in which the show is produced togetherwith the traces left behind by the protagonists in written testimonies.The book is divided into seven chapters. After a brief survey of the obstacles, such asspeculation and ﬂawed translation, to actualize the ethereal world of theater (laterexpanded in chapters 6 and 7), chapter 2 is dedicated to diﬀerent notions of space andtheir manifestations in the scenery. Using Fernando de Rojas’s La Celestina as a startingpoint, Vidler highlights the inﬂuence of the misogynistic description of his femalecharacters, both in the literary text and a series of woodcuts, in the construction of theacting habitus for a series of plays that continued the tradition of this popular comedy. InLope de Vega’s El caballero de Olmedo, the archetype of the Celestinesque witch had anenormous cultural impact in the depiction of the go-between Fabia through her clothesand freedom of movement. Indeed, her independence and bravery in transcending thenegative and restrictive aspects of her gender in the period are contrasted with thelimitation of action imposed on the honorable women who had to remain safe at homebehind bars to protect their honor. In chapter 3, Vidler looks at another importantstructuring element of a show, namely gestures and bodily movement. Semiotics may beuseful to reproduce the facial and corporal motion of the actors on stage. In fact, thanksto the discovery of Renaissance treatises on the art of dancing and fencing — such asthose by Juan de Esquivel Navarro and Luis Pacheco de Narvaez — a director couldteach his cast about the correct position of their feet and limbs in a group dance or a ﬁghtwith swords. This reproduction is not, however, completely identical. The use of videorecording and labanotation, “a standardized system for recording humanmotion developedin 1928” (59), has not allowed us to capture every move, either. Chapter 4 complicates thisinability to achieve perfection by exploring the inversion and dislocation of commonly usedprops and artifacts— such as ribbons, love letters, capes, and swords— again in Lope’s Elcaballero de Olmedo. The author demonstrates that objects could also be manipulated tomaintain a false appearance in the eyes of the beholder. The analysis of theatricalmanipulation in the hands of women is revisited in chapter 5. Vidler outlines thedestabilizing consequences of material and spatial appropriation when two femalecharacters, Solmira and Antona, in Lope de Vega’s El ultimo godo and Tirso de Molina’sAntona Garcıa, usurp the use of weaponry and take their place in a military society reservedfor men while still wearing women’s clothing and without hiding their identity.All in all, Vidler’s monograph is informative, innovative, and entertaining. Nevertheless,she tends to move away from the discussion of her thesis to constantly digress intounnecessarily long comparisons of the reconstruction of a theatrical performance with there-creation of wildlife in a zoo, a historical battle in the US, a dish cooked by a relative (withthe recipe included in an appendix), and many other topics.JORGE ABRIL S ANCHEZ, Univ e r s i t y o f New Hamp sh i r e782 RENAISSANCE QUARTERLY VOLUME LXIX, NO. 2This content downloaded from 132.177.229.130 on June 19, 2017 08:49:14 AMAll use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c).

Review: Vidler, Laura L. Performance Reconstruction and Spanish Golden Age Drama: Reviving and Revising the Comedia

Jorge Abril Sánchez

Crossref

Performance Reconstruction and Spanish Golden Age Drama: Reviving and Revising the Comedia. Laura L. Vidler. Palgrave Studies in Theatre and Performance History. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. xvi + 188 pp. $90.

University of New Hampshire

University of New Hampshire
University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository
Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Scholarship Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
8-1-2016
Review: Vidler, Laura L. Performance
Reconstruction and Spanish Golden Age Drama:
Reviving and Revising the Comedia
Jorge Abril Sanchez
University of New Hampshire, Durham, jorge.abril.sanchez@unh.edu
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/lang_facpub
This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at University of New Hampshire Scholars'
Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Scholarship by an authorized administrator of University of New
Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact nicole.hentz@unh.edu.
Recommended Citation
Abril Sánchez, Jorge. Abril Sánchez, Jorge. “Vidler, Laura L. Performance Reconstruction and Spanish Golden Age Drama: Reviving
and Revising the Comedia. Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.” Renaissance Quarterly 69.2 (Summer 2016): 781-782. https://dx.doi.org/
10.1086/687712
Performance Reconstruction and Spanish Golden Age Drama: Reviving and
Revising the Comedia. Laura L. Vidler.
Palgrave Studies in Theatre and Performance History. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan,
2014. xvi þ 188 pp. $90.
This new monograph is a valuable contribution to the study of the staging practices of
Spanish Golden Age theater. According to Vidler, scholars have not paid enough
attention to these praxes. Since the late 1950s, only a few academics — such as Varey,
Shergold, Allen, and Ruano de la Haza — have illustrated and imagined the modus
operandi of authors and theatrical companies in early modern Spain. Even on these
occasions, their work has been limited to the gathering and recollection of historical
documents — such as contracts and lease agreements — that provide evidence of the
architecture of the corrales, the division of space on the stage, and so forth. Indeed, little
781REVIEWS
This content downloaded from 132.177.229.130 on June 19, 2017 08:49:14 AM
All use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c).
has been done to try to reconstruct the original performance of a play. Vidler explains the
complexity of the re-creation of the mise-en-scene by underscoring the ephemeral
existence of a live representation. In spite of all of this, she pursues her goal of reviving the
spirit of a spectacle by examining the process in which the show is produced together
with the traces left behind by the protagonists in written testimonies.
The book is divided into seven chapters. After a brief survey of the obstacles, such as
speculation and flawed translation, to actualize the ethereal world of theater (later
expanded in chapters 6 and 7), chapter 2 is dedicated to different notions of space and
their manifestations in the scenery. Using Fernando de Rojas’s La Celestina as a starting
point, Vidler highlights the influence of the misogynistic description of his female
characters, both in the literary text and a series of woodcuts, in the construction of the
acting habitus for a series of plays that continued the tradition of this popular comedy. In
Lope de Vega’s El caballero de Olmedo, the archetype of the Celestinesque witch had an
enormous cultural impact in the depiction of the go-between Fabia through her clothes
and freedom of movement. Indeed, her independence and bravery in transcending the
negative and restrictive aspects of her gender in the period are contrasted with the
limitation of action imposed on the honorable women who had to remain safe at home
behind bars to protect their honor. In chapter 3, Vidler looks at another important
structuring element of a show, namely gestures and bodily movement. Semiotics may be
useful to reproduce the facial and corporal motion of the actors on stage. In fact, thanks
to the discovery of Renaissance treatises on the art of dancing and fencing — such as
those by Juan de Esquivel Navarro and Luis Pacheco de Narvaez — a director could
teach his cast about the correct position of their feet and limbs in a group dance or a fight
with swords. This reproduction is not, however, completely identical. The use of video
recording and labanotation, “a standardized system for recording humanmotion developed
in 1928” (59), has not allowed us to capture every move, either. Chapter 4 complicates this
inability to achieve perfection by exploring the inversion and dislocation of commonly used
props and artifacts— such as ribbons, love letters, capes, and swords— again in Lope’s El
caballero de Olmedo. The author demonstrates that objects could also be manipulated to
maintain a false appearance in the eyes of the beholder. The analysis of theatrical
manipulation in the hands of women is revisited in chapter 5. Vidler outlines the
destabilizing consequences of material and spatial appropriation when two female
characters, Solmira and Antona, in Lope de Vega’s El ultimo godo and Tirso de Molina’s
Antona Garcıa, usurp the use of weaponry and take their place in a military society reserved
for men while still wearing women’s clothing and without hiding their identity.
All in all, Vidler’s monograph is informative, innovative, and entertaining. Nevertheless,
she tends to move away from the discussion of her thesis to constantly digress into
unnecessarily long comparisons of the reconstruction of a theatrical performance with the
re-creation of wildlife in a zoo, a historical battle in the US, a dish cooked by a relative (with
the recipe included in an appendix), and many other topics.
JORGE ABRIL S ANCHEZ, Univ e r s i t y o f New Hamp sh i r e
782 RENAISSANCE QUARTERLY VOLUME LXIX, NO. 2
This content downloaded from 132.177.229.130 on June 19, 2017 08:49:14 AM
All use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c).


https://scholars.unh.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1328&amp;context=lang_facpub

Review: Vidler, Laura L. Performance Reconstruction and Spanish Golden Age Drama: Reviving and Revising the Comedia

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

UNH Scholars' Repository

Crossref

University of New Hampshire

University of New Hampshire