Jonathan Thacker. Role-Play and the World as Stage in the Comedia.

Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2002. xvi + 202 pp. index, bibl. $52.95 (cl), $19.95 (pbk). ISBN: 0-85323-548-1 (cl), 0-85323-558-9 (pbk).

This publication on siglo de oro comedia by Jonathan Thacker is based on his 1999 doctoral thesis and contains a page each of acknowledgments, list of abbreviations, and foreword. Thacker begins his critical study with an introduction, divides the main part into four chapters, finishes with conclusions, and appends a fourteenpage bibliography and a five-page index.

The foreword explains that "[a]lthough this study of Spanish Golden Age drama is underpinned by the traditional scholarly values of close reading of playtexts and knowledge of the world into which they were brought, it is buttressed by modern critical theory" (xi). This statement is supported not only by the extensive bibliography but also by the numerous footnotes and the continuous dialogue with comedia criticism. Thacker's analysis is bolstered by multiple approaches, particularly a sociological one; however, the author engages with psychological, feminist, and anthropological theories as well, thereby demonstrating broad knowledge of critical theories and allowing him to reach his own conclusions. Thacker explores the meaning of metatheater, such as the interrelationship between life and theater and the social implications of the reliance on--but also the deceptiveness of--role-play.

The first chapter deals with issues of social power and the debate about nature versus nurture through an analysis of Guillen de Castro's La fuerza de la costumbre and its two main characters Hipolita and Felix. Through the play's symbolic use of language and the actions of its protagonists Thacker shows that "[r]ole-play is conspicuous as both a mainstay of patriarchal life and a method of quick-witted characters to rebel against that life" (48). He also points to the rather unsatisfactory--to a modern reader--change in Hipolita at the play's conclusion.

The second chapter examines Tirso de Molina's Marta la piadosa and Lope de Vegas Los locos de Valencia. Thacker looks at "the comic movement of many a comedia de capa y espada; the oppression of the individual by society (patriarchy); the response of that individual; and his/her ultimate reintegration into a slightly reconfigured order" (67). The motivating force for Marta and Erifila/Floriano is love, and they achieve at least partial success through--in Marta's case--claims of a religious calling, and--in Erifila and Floriano's--a recourse to feigned madness, allowing them to speak the truth as well as point to the similarities between the sane and the mad and condemn the abusive treatment of the insane.

Chapter 3 is devoted to Pedro Calderon de la Barca's La dama duende. Woman is seen as both in control of, as well as constrained by, the interior spaces of the home. Angela's primary concern is seen not so much as a pursuit of love but rather of freedom; in doing so she is an expert--being a sexually experienced widow--in manipulating her brothers as well as Manuel. Lope's La discreta enamorada, furthermore, creates a carnivalesque atmosphere, in which a self-assured Fenisa achieves her goal of marrying Lucindo against her mother's designs, designs that reveal Belisa's and patriarchal society's underlying hypocrisy.

Chapter 4 examines two plays dealing with issues of kingship: La Estrella de Sevilla and Lope's El duque de Viseo. Kingship reflects the relationship between God and humankind to a certain extent; the king, however, is human and as such endowed with free will, i.e., the ability to do what is right as well as err. Thacker shows that while Sancho is simply confused, Juan shows himself to be merciless. Sancho, therefore, is restored to the top of the social hierarchy at the end. Juan, furthermore, exemplifies the danger of a king's excessive reliance on his privado. According to Thacker, the two plays resemble the "English notion of the body natural and the body political" (164) of the king: their private self and their role in society, the relationship between a performance and its audience.

The conclusions, finally, offer a summary of the social criticism inherent in metatheater as well as a desire to open up renewed debate on siglo de oro comedia.

This text should be a welcome addition to comedia criticism, particularly in the variety of its critical approaches; also, it is remarkably free of typos and other errors. It would therefore serve as valuable reference for comedia scholars and be a good addition to their library.

HILDE RISSEL

Virginia State University