La primera puesta en escena de Los tres mayores prodigios de Calderón

The first performance of Pedro Calderón de la Barca's El mayor encanto, amor in 1635 was extravagant, elaborate, costly, and even dangerous due to the dazzling lighting and other stage effects. Somewhat chastened, the following year the playwright showed a more subdued side as he devised a full evening of theatrical spectacle for the Noche de San Juan (Midsummer Night) in June 1636. This article recreates the performance context of the drama that anchored this theatrical féte: Los tres mayores prodigios. An examination of the surviving play text and prologue reveal reduced stage machinery, with the spectacular elements elicited from some changes in the configuration of the stage and within the play's dramatic action. The result was a sophisticated performance that transformed the lush garden of the Palacio del Buen Retiro into a quintessentially baroque theater, with a new Plaza Grande deployed to fit three different stages that could be seen properly both by the king and the public.