Book, Brief Theater of the Golden Century[LS]

At the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th in Spain, a period known as the “Golden Century”, a new theatrical genre was taking shape, emerging from the popular festivals that provided occasion and audience. A type of short piece initially limited to the inter-acts and endings of “serious” pieces, the entremez. With its carnal, satirical and raw humor, it aimed above all to entertain. However, free from the constraints of tradition that defined what good art should be, authors such as Cervantes, Calderón de La Barca, Lope de Rueda, Francisco de Quevedo y Villegas and Agustín Moreto y Cavana, among others, showed in these pieces human nature unvarnished, in all its fierce and ridiculous pettiness. Using creative resources such as intertextuality, parody and music, they made high art out of our lowest instincts, in a way that is still modern today. Teatro Breve do Século de Ouro is the first collection among us dedicated to this genre, rescuing one of the origins of Western theater and complementing the selection of dramaturgy from Teatro Espanhol do Século de Ouro.