Posted on 16 April 2012
Golden Age Drama in Contemporary Spain: The Comedia on Page, Stage and Screen by Duncan Wheeler
A new and illuminating account of the reception of three major dramatists of the Spanish Golden Age in post-Civil War Spain is this month published by the University of Wales Press.
Golden Age Drama in Contemporary Spain by Duncan Wheeler is the first monograph on the performance and reception of 16th and 17th-century national drama in contemporary Spain.
The book contextualises the socio-historical background to the modern-day performance of the country’s three major Spanish baroque playwrights - Calderón de la Barca, Lope de Vega and Tirso de Molina - whilst also providing detailed aesthetic analyses of individual stage and screen adaptations.
Maria M. Delgado, Professor of Theatre and Screen Arts, Queen Mary University of London said:
“This accomplished book offers a thorough engagement with the findings, observations and opinions of textual scholars, Golden Age historians, literary critics, theatre critics, practitioners, and programmers to look at the reasons for this.
“An indispensable study for any academic, critic or practitioner interested in the staging of Golden Age works in the modern era.”
Dr Duncan Wheeler is a Leverhulme Research Fellow at the University of Leeds, where he is also a member of the executive committee at the Centre for World Cinemas.
/ENDS
Notes to Editors:
(April 2012) Golden Age Drama in Contemporary Spain: The Comedia on Page, Stage and Screen by Duncan Wheeler £95 | HB| 9780708324738 | 234x156 mm | 256pp
£19.99 | PB | 9780708324745 - 13 Black and White Images
Further Reviews
"An important book that reflects the decisive moment Golden Age drama is currently passing through on the contemporary stage"
Eduardo Vasco, Director of the National Classical Theatre Company
“This book offers a highly original and richly illuminating account of the reception of the three major dramatists of the Spanish Golden Age (Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina, and Calderón de la Barca) in post-Civil War Spain. Duncan Wheeler proves himself a sophisticated cultural historian as well as theatre and film critic, as he rigorously grounds his analysis of modern stage and screen adaptations of Spain’s classical drama in their institutional, ideological and material contexts. This is a major contribution not only to comedia studies but also to our understanding of contemporary Spanish culture in all its complexity.”
Laura Bass,Tulane University
For more information on the University of Wales Press visit or to place an order: www.uwp.co.uk
For press and media information, please contact Tom Barrett, Communications Officer, University of Wales: t.barrett@wales.ac.uk 02920 376991