A vueltas con la fiesta teatral del Barroco Español: Modelos, normas y rasgos

In spite of many relevant contributions to the Baroque court drama that collect data, gather information and trace the peculiar code of this dramatic genre, numerous critical essays within the sphere of Anglo-Saxon Postmodernism ignore certain aspects of the historical and cultural contextualization of this dramatic genre. In particular, these essays reveal a political interpretation of the myths and a conviction that the tragic genre is compatible with the court feast that are questionable. In accordance with theatrical semiotics, the present work tries to synthesize the main aspects that characterize the court drama as a very peculiar artistic work with specific rules, considering that we have to interpret it within the communicative circuit of the court as the place where it is produced and performed. The court dramas of Lope and Calderón, expressions of two different theatrical visions, allow us to define the code of the Spanish Baroque court drama within its two fundamental stages of development.