Abstract

This article analyses the Spanish television adaptation of Calderón’s sacramental play La vida es sueño by Alberto González Vergel (1965), focusing on changes such as the elimination of certain parts of the text, the addition of images to illustrate the scenes, or the alteration of verses. It also examines the scenography, the wardrobe and the scenic music and compares these to Calderón’s vision and to the staging of Federico García Lorca. It will be confirmed that Spain, in the mid-60’s, returned to a thinking of Enlightenment which rejected sacramental plays, a return that introduced Spain to Modernity but avoided the correct understanding of our Golden Age and so left our cultural heritage helpless in the face of powers like the omnipotent TV. 

Abstract