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Comparing the Commercial Theaters of Early Modern London and Madrid

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

David J. Amelang
David J. Amelang*
Affiliation:
Freie Universität Berlin
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Abstract

Comparative studies have revealed uncanny similarities between the theatrical cultures of Shakespearean England and Golden Age Spain, and in particular between the Elizabethan amphitheaters and the Spanish corrales de comedia (courtyard playhouses). Contrary to conventional wisdom, however, Spain’s (and, in particular, Madrid’s) courtyard theaters may have resembled the English indoor public playhouses, especially London’s Blackfriars, more than the Globe-like amphitheaters with which they are so often matched. That the corrales could simultaneously play the part of both Globe and Blackfriars also helps account for the absence of indoor public playhouses in Habsburg Spain.

Type
Research Article
Information
Renaissance Quarterly , Volume 71 , Issue 2 , Summer 2018 , pp. 610 - 644
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 Renaissance Society of America

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