The Unclothed Body On and Off Stage in the Comedia Nueva1

This article examines the presence of the unclothed body in the comedia nueva, both when it appears on stage and when it is referred to off stage. It begins with a brief examination of what desnudez actually meant in practical terms in the corral theaters (and moralists' responses to states of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Bulletin of the Comediantes 2020-07, Vol.72 (2), p.15-47
Main Author: Thacker, Jonathan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
17th century
Audiences
Audiencia
Body
Corrales de comedias
Crítica teatral
Cuerpo
Dramatists
Erotica
Fictional characters
Human body
Literary characters
Literary motif
Moral
Morals
Motivo literario
Nudity
Personajes literarios
Poverty
Siglo XVII
Siglos de Oro
Spanish Golden Age
Spanish theatre
Teatro español
Theater
Theatre criticism
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Summary:This article examines the presence of the unclothed body in the comedia nueva, both when it appears on stage and when it is referred to off stage. It begins with a brief examination of what desnudez actually meant in practical terms in the corral theaters (and moralists' responses to states of undress). The study goes on to analyze in more detail some of the main implications and resonances of nakedness in the minds of Golden Age audiences. These are important for characterization, including the establishment of a character's poverty, madness, or vulnerability; for dramatists' attempts to establish time and place; and, above all, because of the eroticism of the unclothed body which is linked to pictorial traditions. Examples are taken from full-length comedias by a variety of playwrights, supplemented with the exploration of analogous motifs in seventeenth-century visual culture, to highlight its role in helping the audience imagine these scenes.
ISSN:0007-5108
1944-0928