Six Plays

Excerpt from Six Dramas of Calderón “I suppose Calderon was over-praised some twenty years ago: for the last twenty it has been the fashion to under-praise him, I am sure. His Drama may not be the finest in the world. One sees how often, too, he wrote in the fashion of his time and country: but he is a wonderful fellow: one of the Great Men of the world.” Thus Edward FitzGerald in a letter to his friend, W. B. Donne, bearing the date, August l0, 1852. Many will agree with this estimate, and will regret that, after the lapse of fifty years, it is still, in many quarters, “the fashion to under-praise him.” In Spain, as in other countries, the drama had its origin in religion, and we still possess the fragments of a medieval mystery play – that of the Reyes Magos. Alfonso’s laws prove the existence of liturgical dramas performed at the great church festivals.