The Technological Environment of the Early Modern Spanish Stage

Abstract

I will focus on the main spaces of performance in Spain (especially the public playhouse, but also court theatre) and their technological environment, since their spatial properties and mechanical capacities influenced the ways playwrights and performers would think and embody their texts, and how audiences came in contact with certain technologies. I wish to stress two ideas: first, we cannot forget how the architectonic and technical foundation of performance spaces was an essential element in the creation of theatre, and second, we cannot detach the practical knowledge – architecture, engineering, masonry, crafts, etc. – underlying early modern theatre from the individuals who created it and those who interacted with it.