Abstract

The plays performed in the palace were not exclusively large spectacular productions but also, and most striking, the same or similar plays as in the public theatres were performed here. In this context, I study the similarities and distinctions between public and court theatre, paying attention to the economic excesses of the court theatre and the protests that they produced.

Abstract

This paper focuses on the period of Lope de Vega’s activity as a playwright in order to reconstruct the theatrical and festive activity related to the court of the Austrias, based on gathering existing information and archival documents. It reviews this tradition of spectacle, on which we have increasing information, as a background that allows us to understand and correctly contextualize the great spectacle-plays that Lope de Vega wrote from early stages of his career until shortly before his death, with the aim of unveiling the transformations that he brought to this tradition.