Legally Bound: Women and Performance in Early Modern Spain

Abstract

women were abundantly and significantly present in public events and spaces as well as on theatrical stages in early modern Spain. Conventional wisdom has covered that presence with a veil of male protagonism. However, as the above-cited segment of Lope de Vega’s theatrical manifesto challenged them to do, women rightly negotiated the impossible with the verosímil (truthful imitation) when they appropriated the disfraz varonil (male disguise), and moved center stage in the world of comedia. They did so by be-