Shakespeare and the Spanish Comedia

Shakespeare and the Spanish Comedia is a nearly unique transnational study of the theater / performance traditions of early modern Spain and England. Divided into three parts, the book focuses first on translating for the stage, examining diverse approaches to the topic. It asks, for example, whether plays should be translated to sound as if they were originally written in the target language or if their "foreignness" should be maintained and even highlighted. Section II deals with interpretation and considers such issues as uses of polyphony, the relationship between painting and theater, and representations of women. Section III highlights performance issues such as music in modern performances of classical theater and the construction of stage character. Written by a highly respected group of British and American scholars and theater practitioners, this book challenges the traditional divide between the academy and stage practitioners and between one theatrical culture and another.

Bárbara Mujica is Professor of Spanish and Associated Faculty of Performing Arts at Georgetown University, where she directs El Retablo, a Spanish theater group.

Introduction
Shattering Boundaries: Susan Fischer's Approach to Theater Studies
Bárbara Mujica
Part I: Translation
Chapter 1
Performing Translation: The [Dangerous] Mobilities of Cultural Identity
Katherine Faull
Chapter 2
"Eking Out" Performance with the Mind
David Johnston
Chapter 3
The Translation of La vida es sueno for a Twenty-First Century Anglophone Audience
Jonathan Thacker
Chapter 4
Translating Hamlet for the Spanish Actor
Denis Rafter
Part II: Interpretation
Chapter 5
The High Anxiety of Influence: Caro, Zayas, Sor Juana, and the New Arts
Edward H. Friedman
Chapter 6
Versions of the Battle of Cadiz, 1625
William R. Blue
Chapter 7
Polyphony and Calderón de la Barca's La dama duende
Charles Victor Ganelin
Chapter 8
The Portrait of a Pious Widow: Francisco de Ribalta and Lope de Vega's La viuda valenciana
Frederick A. de Armas
Chapter 9
Women Tame and Untamed: Two Dutiful Daughters in the Romance de la doncella guerrera and Luis Vélez de Guevara's La serrana de la Vera
Emilie L. Bergmann
Chapter 10
Cultural Capital and Comedy: Talking Heads in Guillén de Castro's Las mocedades del Cid
Mary Malcolm Gaylord
Chapter 11
Shakespeare's Imagination
Michael Payne
Part III: Performance
Chapter 12
Constructing Stage Character: The Duke of Ferrara in Lope de Vega's El castigo sin venganza
Isaac Benabu
Chapter 13
Facing the Music: Introducing Song into the Comedia
Bárbara Mujica
Chapter 14
The Autonomy of Henry IV, Part Two
James C. Bulman
Chapter 15
Staging Options in the Early Texts of Hamlet
David Bevington
Works Cited
Selected Publications of Susan L. Fischer
Contributors