Abstract

In the first place, this article tries to determine the first stages of the evolution of the loa during the 16th and the 17th centuries. Secondly, it deals with the main characteristics that can define the dramatic functions of loas at the moment when the theatre becomes a professionalized spectacle. Within the framework of this new experience, the loa, the genre in charge of establishing the initial contact with the public, must be considered from its circumstantial nature. Acknowledging the spectacular dependency of the genre and the dramatic strategies derived from this fact, the following part of the article deals with the analyze of these strategies in the eight courtly loas of Calderon de la Barca which we know about.