Diálogos en las tablas: Últimas tendencias de la puesta en escena del teatro clásico español ed. by María Bastianes et al.

Abstract

Dialogos en las tablas: Ultimas tendencias de la puesta en escena del teatro clasico espanol Ed. Maria Bastianes, Esther Fernandez, and Purificacio Mascarell. Kassel: Edition Reichenberger, 2014. 381 pp.As Joan Oleza's pointed prologue and self-proclaimed manifiesto (ix) indicates, theater practitioners and scholars have long operated apart from one another, a lamentable tendency that this volume attempts to remedy. By including both academic approaches to the performance of Spanish classical theater and interviews with theater scholars and professionals working in varying capacities, Dialogos en las tablas not only dialogues between theory and praxis, but also facilitates actual conversations about the history and current state of comedia performance. Oleza is justified in lauding this collection of essays and interviews as a unique and necessary addition to studies of Spanish classical theater and in lamenting the common tendency of critics to fall to one side or the other of the stage/page binar}'. He insists that the way forward is found in this compilation of discussions and scholarly works, which represents a holistic approach to theater studies that encompasses both the study of dramatic texts and their on-stage iterations.The majority of Dialogos consists of nine chapters authored by different scholars. Each essay is followed by an interview with a director, actor, or dramaturg involved with the production or company featured. For example, Sergio Adillo Rufo's chapter on adapting La vida es sueno immediately precedes his interview with Juan Mayorga, creator of the Compania Nacional de Teatro Clasico's latest version of the play. These essays range widely in focus and scope, from case studies on adaptations of specific works, such as La vida es sueno and Fuente Ovejuna, to more historical explorations of the trajee tor}' of a particular play, such as La Celestina and El galan fantasma, over a period of time. Other chapters focus on the work of certain theater troupes and directors, including Eduardo Vasco (Compania Nacional de Teatro Clasico), Teatro Corsario, and Ana Zamora (Nao d'amores Teatro).The second section is a series of forty short interviews, each consisting of just three questions, conducted with a wide variety of theater professionals and academics from Spain, England, and the United States. The interviewees, ranging from Ignacio Arellano to Mar Zubieta, are professors, actors, directors, lighting designers, costume designers, set designers, translators, dramaturgs, musicologists, theater critics, and editors. These interviews are an excellent window to the work and working philosophies of those who have dedicated their professional labor to the drama of the Golden Age. It is not an exhaustive list of theater specialists and practitioners, but it is an important one.It is worth noting that although most of the chapters deal with stagings by Spanish companies within Spain, Esther Fernandez's study of Fuente Ovejuna focuses on performances in New York and India, while the final chapter, by Jonathan Thacker, explores the history and reception of Golden Age plays staged in Great Britain. …