Last updated September 12, 1998

THE PRÍNCIPE THEATER IN THE MADRID 
IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

With the gracious permission of John J. Allen, this page will give you 
access to five of the many valuable illustrations from his book about
the contruction of an architectural model of the CORRAL DEL PRÍNCIPE.
You will find many more such meaningful drawings, sketches, and photographs, 
as well as valuable information about the building and its audiences, in
that work:  THE RECONSTRUCTION OF A SPANISH GOLDEN AGE PLAYHOUSE,  El
Corral del Príncipe 1583-1744 (Gainesville, FL:  University Presses
of Florida, 1983).  As I read the work, I was struck by the value of the
information contained in it for understanding the physical disposition of
the audiences and the effects that must have had on the interplay between
the audiences, the acting company and its directors, and the play texts
being performed.  Certainly, the priests in the attic seats, the wealthy
and nobility in the boxes, the seated middle classes, and the standing
"hoi-polloi" neither received nor perceived the same play.  Jay's work in
this text should enable the reader to conceptualize these differences.  May
the five samples here lead you sample the book itself.

Illustrations

(1)  A contemporary drawing of a street-theater stage, such as that used
	by Lope de Rueda according to existing descriptions.

(2)  A drawing of a Spanish street theater, 1623
 
(3)  A drawing that shows the "patio" and stage of the Corral del Príncipe 
	as it would have appeared from a box seat at the rear of the theater.

(4)  A drawing showing the facade of the Corral in Madrid.

(5)  A cut-a-way drawing, showing a cross-section of the Corral del Príncipe
	looking toward the front of the theater.

(6)  Another cut-a-way drawing, showing a cross-section of the Corral del Príncipe
	looking toward the rear of the theater.

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