Minutes of the Comediantes Meeting: Palmer House, Chicago Tuesday, December 27, 1955 11:00-12:30 A.M.

Theatre Workshop, Theatre Royal, Stratford (East London), directed by Miss Joan Littlewood, Sept. 27, 1955.—Spanish Cultural Index, No. 117 (Oct. 1, 1955), p. 1,088; and J. Miquelarena, "El estreno de Fuente Ovejuna en Inglaterra," ABC, Oct. 20, 1955. Vega, Lope de. Los milagros del desprecio. In German translation by Hans Schlegel, directed by Kurt Hoffman, in the ContraKreis .—ABC, Mar. 10, 1955. Vega, Lope de. Los milagros del desprecio. In German translation by Hans Schlegel. At the Kammertheater, Bonn.—Revista de Literatura, VII, Nos. 13-14 (1955), 265. Vega, Lope de. El perro del hortelano. French prose translations, "Le Chien du jardinier," at the Marigny theatre, Paris, middle of December, 1955.—J. L. ?., "Triunfo en Paris de Lope de Vega," ABC, Jan. 26, 1956; Robert Kemp, "Le Chien du jardinier à Marigny," Le Monde (Selection hebdomadaire, Dec. 8-14, 195 5); Jacques Le Marchand, "Critique," in Le Figaro Littéraire, Dec. 17, 1955. Vicente, Gil. For several performances, see William H. Roberts, "Notes on the Recent Portuguese Theatre," Hispania, XXXVIIl (1955), 207. Minutes of the Comediantes Meeting Palmer House, Chicago Tuesday, December 27, 1955 11:00-12:30 A.M. The following were present at this wellattended meeting: Adams, Arnold, Betöret, Consuelo Betöret, Bishop, Bleznick, Dinamarca , Espinosa, Gulsoy, Heilman, Hesse, Jones, Gunda S. Kaiser, Ruth Lee Kennedy, Leavitt, Marín, McCready, Molinaro, Ortigoza , Osma, Parker, Peters, Peyton, Pickering , Poesse, Roaten, Rogers, Rozzell, Ru;sell , Elizabeth Ryan, Helen L. Sears, Shoemaker , Wade, Wardropper, Webber, Ruth H. Webber. Darnell Roaten was Chairman; Diego Marin, Secretary; Third member: Charles L. Adams. The Chairman nominated the following Committee for 1956, which was adopted Wardropper (Ohio), Chm.; McCurdy (New York), Seer.; Whitby (UCLA). Prof. Hesse presented the financial report showing a balance on hand of $21 after spending $53.59. He was unanimously requested to remain as Editor for another year. The question of continuing the Bibliography section of the Bulletin was raised in view of possible duplication with the announced PMLA bibliography. It was agreed to postpone the decision until next year, when members will know more about the PMLA plans. The subject for discussion at this meeting was "Structural Characteristics" in two of Alarcón's plays, a popular topic to judge by the very good attendance and the keen debate it aroused. Adams read the first paper on "Structural Esthetic Relations of Plot and Character in La verdad sospechosa." He pointed out the structural feature of compact complexity in this play, which left no loose ends and used no superfluous characters , as an indication of good planning on the part of Alarcón. Externally, the structural relationship between actions and characters appears as a balanced pattern by means of contrast, both elements moving with but little interruption towards a logical dénouement . The general effect thus achieved is one of unity and clarity. Internally, on the other hand, the keynote is confusion within the plot itself, with the main action obscured to those involved in it. Mr. Adams' conclusion in evaluating the play was that, although the mechanical arrangement of plot and character has artistic harmony and unity, its music-box artistry falls short of esthetic perfection. Also critical in its approach was Roaten'.= paper on "Structure of Plot and Characters in Las paredes oyen?' presenting this plav as a typical baroque play with a faulty tim11 ing in the conclusion. Mr. Roaten analysed the complexity of the plot, with its four threads of action closely interwoven, and its rapid movement from one to the other, all the actions converging towards the conclusion , but with a great deal of the force and speed that usually go with baroque convergence lost through an untimely anticipation of the dénouement. Alarcón's failure to bring all the threads together to a climactic conclusion produces something of an anticlimax when convergence occurs long after the questions posed by the love-stories have been resolved. While Alarcón's interest in his moral lesson may account for this structural flaw, the failure to conduct the various motifs to a forceful convergence was not unknown among the playwrights of the time (e.g. Guillen de Castro's Las mocedades del Cid). This would...