The Playwright's Perspective. Innovative Dramaturgy and its Poetics in Early Modern Spain.

Innovation and conflict have always characterized early modern Spanish theater. The dramatic text, transformed and reincarnated with each interpretation onstage, was in a constant state of flux in the Golden Age. As a result of the influence of Aristotle's Poetics and the literary theory established during the Italian Renaissance, especially by Franciscus Robortellus's In librum Aristotelis de arte poetica explicationes (1548), which demonstrated how an Aristotelian approach to tragedy served as a similarly useful approach to comedy, most scholars in sixteenth century Spain tended to contemplate dramatic theory in a more formal, theoretical, and rhetorical manner. In subsequent years,several theater practitioners began exploring the implications of performance and audience reception from a different perspective, liberating dramatic theory from the arguably uncompromising precepts that had previously dictated literary and theatrical practice. These playwrights stopped reflecting on past theory and concentrated on present theatrical practice, turning to audiences for cues as to their expectations.