The popular enthusiasm for the comedia nueva in Golden Age Spain, combined with the appeal of play-going within even the highest social circles, assured the success of the theatre throughout most of the seventeenth century. The theatrical world became attractive and potentially lucrative to a whole host of individuals and bodies, and with its rise came increased regulation. Although it is tempting to ascribe the confidence of actor-managers and entrepreneurs to the ascendancy of Lope de Vega's theatrical star, in fact it was as early as the mid-sixteenth century that Lope de Rueda from Seville (see pp. 14–15), and then the Italian Ganassa, began to turn potential into sustained financial success. In Spain's urban centres, even before the advent of Lope's new drama, the world of the theatre had begun to attract individuals with vision and an eye for a profit, and the inevitable accompanying law-suits. The theatrical world would change a great deal during the writing life of Lope, but some of its important structures were in place before his unique talents had come to the fore.

In this chapter we shall explore three (interrelated) areas of Golden Age theatre: the spaces where drama was performed; actors and acting; and the performance of this drama. The first two areas have benefited greatly from research undertaken in and outside Spain in the last three decades. The last area will take us into less well charted territory: the analysis of performance has never achieved anything like the importance in comedia studies that it has recently in, for example, the study of Shakespeare's drama.

Performance spaces

When Miguel de Cervantes came to publish his comedias and entremeses in 1615, he looked back, misty-eyed, on his youth to describe a performance he had seen by the troupe of the great Lope de Rueda.