Bulletin o f Spanish Studies, Volume LXXXV, Number 6, 2008

All Done with Mirrors: Calderonian

Experiments in Staging
DON W. CRUICKSHANK
University College Dublin
When A. A. Parker tackled the problem of the chronology of Calderdns autos,
he discovered that various details concerning staging provided sources of
information. One of these was the change in 1647 from two carts to four;
another was the writers own memorias de apariencias, which sometimes
described in detail how the carts were to be constructed in order to achieve
the desired dramatic effects.1 It is clear from these memorias and from other
sources such as Calderons response to the proposals of the designer Cosme
Lotti for the staging of El mayor encanto amor, or from some long stage
directions, that Calderon got very involved in the technical problems created
in the performance of his works. Using Parkers research as a precedent, this
paper attempts to create a chronology, and sources of influence, for
Calderons treatment of one problem in particular, the problem of the
Vision or the supernatural image which is as visible to his audience as it
is to his normal characters.
We need to distinguish between static and moving when we consider the
nature of the image within the play presented to the audience. Calderon used
both, although he did not keep them entirely separate, as we shall see: he
was capable of using the one to suggest the other. While there has been some
study of the relationship between the visual arts and his plays and autos, the
main topic of this investigation is his manner of dealing with moving
images.2
1 See Alexander A. Parker, The Chronology of Calderons autos sacramentales from
1647, Hispanic Review, 37:1 (1969), 164-88; revised in the Spanish edition of his The
Allegorical Drama of Calderdn (Oxford: Dolphin, 1943): Los autos sacramentales de Calderdn
de la Barca, trad. Francisco Garcia Sarria (Barcelona: Ariel, 1983), 221-52. The latest
evidence in this context is the letter Calderdn wrote on 29 April 1640 about the staging of
Psiquis y Cupido (para Toledo)', see Fernando Martinez Gil, Mariano Garcia Ruiperez and
Francisco Crosas, Calderon de la Barca y el Corpus toledano de 1640: recuperation de una
carta autografa en el Archivo Municipal de Toledo, Criticon, 91 (2004), 93-120.
2 For the visual arts in Calderdn, see Bruno M. Damiani, Los dramaturgos del Siglo de
Oro frente a las artes visuales: prologo para un estudio comparativo, in El mundo del teatro
espahol en su Siglo de Oro: ensayos dedicados a John E. Varey, ed J. M. Ruano de la Haza
ISSN 1475-3820 print/ISSN 1478-3428 online/08/06/000017-14
Bulletin of Spanish Studies. DOI 10.1080/14753820802542226