Abstract

Spanish Golden Age Culture is an age of secrets and secrecy. Among its playwrights, Pedro Calderón de la Barca shows the most complex comprehension of this subject. During the entirety of his career he refers to it in numerous comedies, creates metaphors concerning different aspects of secrecy and employs it for the construction of his comedias de enredo/comedies of intrigue. In summary: Calderón has an ongoing interest in this anthropological phenomenon. The article analyses the motive of secrecy in selected plays, tragic and comic, starting with the San Secreto figure present in different plays, for example in La vida es sueño. After tracing the temporal aspect of secrecy the article ends with some thoughts about the relation between the public and the secret spheres. Calderón reflects this relation in his masterpiece concerning secrecy: El secreto a voces/The loud secret.

Abstract

El «teatro breve», en general, y el «entremés», en particular, cuentan ya con una más que considerable bibliografía. Sin embargo, la crítica ha dedicado poca atención a los «autores de comedias» o actores que ejercieron también de dramaturgos. Entre ellos se encuentra Alonso de Olmedo, famoso por su interpretación del papel de galán, sobre todo en obras de Calderón. Es autor de un considerable número de «bailes» que se representaron en diversas funciones calderonianas, son sus entremeses los que resultan de mayor interés (Píramo y Tisbe, Las locas caseras, La dama toro y El sacristán Chinchilla).«The Actor Alonso de Olmedo: An entremesista in Calderón’s Orbit»The «teatro breve», in general, and the «entremés», in particular, already have a more than considerable amount of bibliography. However, critics have paid little attention to the «autores de comedias» or actors who were also playwrights. Among them is Alonso de Olmedo, who was famous for playing the role of «galán», especially in Calderon’s works. He is the author of a large number of «bailes» that were performed at various Calderonian plays, it is his «entremeses» that are of greater interest (Píramo y Tisbe, Las locas caseras, La dama toro and El sacristán Chinchilla).