A Lady of Little Sense by Lope de Vega, and: Punishment Without Revenge by Lope de Vega, and: Don Gil of the Green Breeches by Tirso de Molina (review)

More than twenty years have passed since Laurence Boswell premiered his first Golden Age season in 1992, which earned him the Lawrence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement. His second season, in 2004, was also highly acclaimed both in England and Spain. Boswell served as the artistic curator of the four plays that premiered in the Royal Shakespeare Company that year: The Dog in the Mangerby Lope de Vega, Tamar’s Revengeby Tirso de Molina, The House of Desiresby Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, and Pedro, the Great Pretenderby Cervantes. In his most recent season, which opened at the Ustinov Studio Theatre in Bath in September 2013, Boswell demonstrated once again his subtle understanding of Baroque Spanish theatre by curating and directing three plays—in three new and masterful translations—seen for the first time on the British stage: A Lady of Little Sense(1613) and Punishment without Revenge(1631), both by Lope de Vega, and Don Gil of the Green Breeches(1615) by Tirso de Molina.

Although it seems that the three plays could not be more different, together they present a triptych that explores how the honor system functioned in early modern Spanish drama, or comedia. The honor code in these plays exemplifies the coercive social forces at work in Golden Age theatre, whose dramatic solution is murder ( Punishment). Even in instances that seem less brutal or invasive ( A Ladyand Don Gil), they nevertheless imply the objectification of women, subject to the will of men.

In Punishment without Revenge, translated by Meredith Oakes, emotional tension dominates the play and pervaded every aspect of the performance. Everything, from the actors’ movements to the costume, stage, and lighting design, heightened the concept of a metaphorical chess game in which black and white dominated, emphasizing the struggle of each ‘’piece’’ for his or her life. The lighting was particularly effective by enhancing the stark chiaroscuro that characterized the production. This visual contrast isolated particular characters onstage in order to intensify their emotional conflicts.

Count Federico and Cassandra, stepson and stepmother, fall in love and consummate their desire during the Duke’s absence. Once the Duke learns of this familial treason, he concocts a plan to have the lovers killed, ostensibly motivated by the rigid demands of the honor code rather than personal revenge. Federico (Nick Barber) and Cassandra’s (Frances McNamee) forbidden love can only be channeled through verbal and physical insinuation, especially in the first two acts. They conceal their desires from the people around them, as well as from themselves, but their anguished emotions are nonetheless subtly revealed onstage by their gestures and body language.

The Duke, brought to life by William Hoyland, becomes a tragic hero comparable to the greatest Shakespearean protagonists in his fall and inevitable perdition. His womanizing nature will brand him from the beginning of the play with a tragic flaw that will doom him to his downfall. In addition, and like other tragic Shakespearean characters, he faces extreme societal pressures. Torn between love for his son and his military and political obligations, the Duke’s moral dilemma lies at the heart of the drama. A visual representation of his role, his throne occupied the center of the stage. Although an inanimate object, it exercised a dominant power as an ever-present reminder to the characters and audience of the Duke’s obligations as a ruler and of the honor code’s implacable tyranny.

As it happens with the other protagonists in the play, Aurora (Katie Lightfoot), the Duke’s niece who is in love with Federico, becomes an extremely complex character...