Eros en escena: Erotismo en el teatro del Siglo de Oro (review)

Abstract

Fernandez Rodriguez, Esther. Eros en escena: Erotismo en el teatro del Siglo de Oro. Newark, DE: Juan de la Cuesta, 2009. 189 pp.Consistent with the approach that views comedias as play scripts (written to be performed rather than read), Esther Fernandez Rodriguez very broadly examines the sensuality of Madrid's public theaters. The author's purpose is to document that the corrales of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spain were a vibrant center of eroticism to which various factors contributed, including the steamy atmosphere that existed in and around the playhouses, the sexually evocative undertones of many comedias, the frequently seductive nature of performances on stage, and the licentious lifestyle ascribed to theater people. The public playhouses of Madrid in the age of Lope and Calderon have been widely recognized as sites of popular mass entertainment, charitable businesses supporting the hospitals, and political instruments of lesser or greater degree. The conclusion supported in this study is that they were also the headwaters of provocative erotic sensations (177). The author aims to reclaim for the Spanish stage of the Golden Age a neglected but important part of its nature, thus returning to it an aspect of universality that has been lost (32).Chapter 1 outlines the varying definitions of eroticism and associated terms such as sensuality, seduction, sexuality, sex, love, and pornography (19-20). In the repressive Catholic society of Spain's Golden Age, censorship made difficult or impossible the direct and intentional expression of the sexually redolent. So these basic aspects of human existence were usually presented indirectly, through insinuation (verbal tone, gesture, body language), metaphors, and double meanings (28-30). The author approaches her topic with an awareness of the great differences between what was considered indecent 400 years ago and what is seen as such by the jaded public of our present day (176). The indirect cultural clues used by Golden Age dramatists do not awaken the same erotic sensations as they did in the original audiences (181), a fact that by itself justifies the explanations presented in this volume.Chapter 2 focuses on the sensually charged atmosphere within and immediately outside the public theaters in Madrid, as well as in the surrounding neighborhood. Despite the segregation of women in the cazuela, the interior spaces of the corrales- the various entrances and stairways, dressing rooms, hallways, and back stairs- lent themselves to clandestine social pleasures (41-42). Go-betweens of all types exercised their skills at the theaters- assisting in courtships, seductions, and assignations between lovers - and prostitutes sought clients there (44-45). Citing the many other possibilities for pleasurable indulgences offered in the theater district (e.g., taverns, gaming houses, brothels, the mentidero de los comediantes), the author concludes that the whole area was charged with a tantalizing ambience.Chapter 3 discusses the promotion of sensuality by the performers, who became sexual icons of the age through their acting on stage and their reputed amorous freedom off stage. The author discusses the lives and reputations of various prominent actresses to make plain that their presence in the corrales was a major enticement for audiences and that they, more than their male counterparts, were responsible for the financial success of acting companies, public theaters, and the hospitals that they supported.Chapters 4 and 5 present a representative sampling of specific comedias containing salacious scenes that lend to otherwise nonerotic plays an air of latent sensuality. …