Introduction: The Comedia Under Siege

Abstract

This introduction engages with the meaning and socio-cultural impact of a variety of artistic contributions within the realm of Hispanic theater that have been carried out in the Spanish-speaking world in order to keep production of the comedia afloat during the confinement due to COVID-19. It discusses what this implies for an inherently live medium such as the theater and, ultimately, introduces the content of the rest of the volume.

Keywords:

• Comedia
• performance
• confinement
• fifth wall
• crisis

Notes

1 Even as we write this introduction in June 2021, one of us is in Canada, where eligibility for second doses is just opening for the majority of the population, and another is in Spain, where under 40% of the population has been given even one dose. Many of our colleagues in Latin America have had even fewer opportunities to be vaccinated (Holder).

2 As is mentioned in the article by Erin Cowling, theater producers in Mexico were the first to decide to close their doors for the greater (public health) good, even before the official orders came from governments.

3 As reported by the BBC news: “The audience will be led by Puck, played by EM Williams, who takes them from the real world into the digital world, the RSC said, and can guide Puck through the forest at key points in the play.”