5 - Calderón and the Jácara

Summary

LAUGHTER AND VIOLENCE

Humour in the comedia and the teatro breve alike allowed the theatre audiences of the time to escape the worries of the workaday world, and all its seriousness, by experiencing the soothing pleasure of a good laugh. The ridiculous processions of the mojigangas rarely contained any inkling of a plot or deep exploration of character motivations. The essence of the mojiganga was much less complicated than anything with a foundation in real-life mimesis. The logic behind its presentation was also simple: A figure dressed in a silly costume was funny, but many figures dressed in silly costumes were even funnier. The funnier the better; hence a procession. The entremés usually relied upon some sort of plot and character motivation, yet all efforts in dramatic craftsmanship were inevitably dedicated to getting a laugh. In general, entremés-characters’ actions were meant to deceive others and make them look ridiculous. Actions that were not inherently funny (taking a pulse, eating dinner, looking at the stars) still eventually served that end. Plot points creating suspense (such as the panic accompanying the husband’s return in El dragoncillo) always called for a comical resolution, whose comic ‘pay-off’ (the release from suspense) was only heightened by the delay. Nevertheless, though the teatro breve may be frivolous on the surface, one is quick to discover a wealth of more serious material lying underneath. Parody and satire are always present, and, given their power to criticise art and society, cannot be considered entirely frivolous. In fact, when one begins to examine the ‘essence’ of many of the teatro breve’s jokes, it becomes evident that this ‘essence’ is actually quite a serious matter.

While many entremés tricksters pull pranks only to entertain themselves (and the audience, of course), an equal number of burlas are driven by deeper motivations, namely hunger and poverty. The low-life world of the entremés is indeed a parodical answer to the high-class court society of the comedia, but the entremés cannot survive on parody alone. However distorted its vision of society may be, and however much everything is bent towards getting a laugh, the entremés still represents a world where people are sick, poor and starving in the streets.