La primera versión de 'La vida es sueño' Performed in Almería

In Almería, on 4 April 1992, as part of the celebrated Jornadas de Teatro Clásico del Siglo de Oro, the original or 'Zaragoza' version of La vida es sueño was performed for the first time since the seventeenth century. This performance by the Compañía Zampanó demonstrated the correctness of José María Ruano's recently published opinions regarding the ideological and theatrical differences between this hitherto undervalued 'First Version' — possibly composed before 1630 — and the masterly refundición published in Calderón's Primera parte of 1636. In his critical edition of La primera version de "La vida es sueño', superbly studied and annotated, Ruano reconstructs with remarkable accuracy the original play, and proves beyond question its importance for our understanding of Calderón's dramatic art and development.

Despite his subtle analysis of Segismundo's changed reactions, in the different versions, to the misfortunes and transformations of life, Ruano may not fully appreciate the complexities of Segismundo's personality, or the extent to which in the 'Madrid' play the dramatist continued to rely on his first conception of the Prince of Poland. Rather than the Prince's superior nobility of character, in my view, it is greater subtlety of mind which distinguishes him most noticeably from the figure of Segismundo as Calderón first portrayed him. In my judgement, Segismundo as he is recreated is an even more Machiavellian Prince than the original 'Segismundo maquiavélico' observed by Ruano. Which is not to deny that in the second play his nobility of character is more developed. For in his reconstructed personality Segismundo is a persuasively complex human being, realistically capable of both selfishness and compassion, unscrupulousness and integrity. More than any other aspects of the later work, the characterization of Segismundo establishes the superior quality of the playwright's achievement. The 'primera versión' is theatrically more accomplished, but, through its profoundly human conflicts and complexities of meaning, the Revised Version of La vida es sueño deserves the reputation which for centuries it has enjoyed as a masterpiece of the Golden-Age theatre. (ALM)