thespanishtragedy.my.canva.site
Open in
urlscan Pro
103.169.142.250
Public Scan
URL:
https://thespanishtragedy.my.canva.site/home
Submission: On March 14 via manual from US — Scanned from AU
Submission: On March 14 via manual from US — Scanned from AU
Form analysis 1 forms found in the DOM
<form id="captcha-form">
<div class="g-recaptcha" data-sitekey="6Ldk59waAAAAAMPqkICbJjfMivZLCGtTpa6Wn6zO"></div>
<div id="netease-captcha"></div>
<p id="error_message_captcha" class="text-danger" style="display: none;"> Please complete the verification. </p>
<p id="error_message" class="text-danger" style="display: none;"> We weren't able to submit your report right now. Please try again later. </p>
<div class="form-buttons">
<button id="form_go_back" type="button" class="button">
<span class="button-text">Back</span>
</button>
<button id="form_submit_captcha" type="submit" class="submit-button">
<span class="button-text">Submit</span>
</button>
</div>
</form>Text Content
* Homepage * Note From the Dramaturg * Areas of Research * Resources * Homepage * Note From the Dramaturg * Areas of Research * Resources by thomas kyd The Spanish Tragedy Directed by Dr. Alice Dailey And DR. Chelsea Phillips April 11-14, 18-21 Note from the dramaturg Blood. Violence. Madness. These words are commonly associated with the genre of revenge tragedy. All of these elements exist within the world of The Spanish Tragedy, especially since many point to it being the beginning of the genre’s popularity on early modern stages. There are two words missing from the above that run papably throughout the piece: Love and grief. In The Spanish Tragedy, we watch as our revengers are trapped in their inability to express their passions and it becomes corrosive to their sanity and souls. Lorenzo puts it perfectly: “When words fail, violence prevails.” This production will delve into how revenge is born from a love lost and inexpressible. Please read the content warning guide in the dramaturgical resources, but I hope you will take this journey alongside us. Areas of research playwright Production History Violent Entertainment Gendered Revenge Legacy of Revenge Thomas Kyd Thomas Kyd was born in 1558 (baptized on November 6th, 1558) in London. The son of a scrivener, Kyd attended Merchant Taylors School to potentially follow in his father’s footsteps. There is no evidence to show that Kyd went on to get an education at the university level, which became a sticking point when playwright Thomas Nashe seemed to lambast Kyd in the Preface to Robert Greene’s Menaphon. Nashe’s anger seems to be born from jealousy of Kyd’s success. The Spanish Tragedy was a smash hit, being hailed by scholars as the originator for the revenge tragedy genre on the early modern stages. Kyd went on to translate Robert Garnier’s Cornéile from its original French and a lost work scholars call Ur-Hamlet believed to be a potential inspiration for Shakespeare’s Hamlet. In 1593, while rooming with Christopher Marlowe, Kyd was arrested for having alleged materials that spoke against Protestant values. Kyd was imprisoned and tortured, only released by expressing he believed the papers belonged to Marlowe. This led to Marlowe’s arrest and for some time, this was all we knew of Kyd’s personal life. Kyd later died penniless and allegedly from complications of his tortures in 1594. Production History National Theatre London, England 1982 Royal Shakespeare Compasny Stratford-upon-Avon, England 1997 Arcola Theatre London, England 2009 Mrin Shakespeare Company San Rafael, California 2013 Old Red Lion Theatre London. England 2016 Violent EnteRtainment “Tree,” in early modern English, was synonymous with “gallows” and public executions were another source of entertainment at the time. The Spanish Tragedy shows the evolution of how revenge acts as a contagion that breeds death and how death was turned into a spectacle. James Shapiro believes, “[The Spanish Tragedy] raises the possibility that it is not the opposition between state and theater, but their potential confusion and indistinguishability.” In the world of The Spanish Tragedy, Kyd’s demand for audiences to look at their roles in violence as spectacle is left in confusion with no answer provided like the King and Andrea. In the absence of an answer is the truth of Kyd’s design: It is not up to the play to "reveal the mystery” but it is up to the audience to confront the question of what it means to be a spectator to the horrors shown both on and off the stage. Kyd’s mastery of manipulating the semiotics of performance holds a mirror up to audiences and exposes how they remain captivated by death as a source of entertainment. The line, like the hidden meanings underneath the language of The Spanish Tragedy, will entrap the audience in the harsh reality that there may not be a line at all. Gendered Revenge “What is a play without a woman in it?” Hieronimo uses this line when casting the play-within-a-play to encourage Bel-Imperia’s inclusion, but revenge tragedies would not exist without women in plays. Universities were staging Seneca’s tragedies, particularly Medea and Agamemnon. Seneca was fascinated with dramatizing myths that focused on how passions like love, anger, and ambition can mutate people past the point of their humanity. These cautionary tales were appealing to law students and lawmakers alike to gender the proper way to take revenge. Medea and Clytemnestra were examples of “feminised revenge” who allow their passions to overtake them and take justice into their own hands leading to carnage and loss of innocent life. By taking grievances to the justice system, similar to Aeschylus’s Oresteia, Clytemnestra is the proper way to take revenge. Thomas Kyd, an evident Senecan lover, throws that gender binary out the window with Hieronimo. Scholars point to how in the Vindicta mihi soliloquy, Hieronimo transitions to a “feminised revenge” by quoting Clytemnestra. Kyd’s rejection of the binary of revenge adds to his overall upheaval of not only the concept of who is susceptible to revenge, but also pulled Seneca onto mainstream stages away from the gatekeeping of higher education. Medea Legacy of Revenge “I'll there begin their endless tragedy.” The final line of The Spanish Tragedy, spoken by Revenge, eerily foretold that the play’s influence on theatre history. The Spanish Tragedy was entered into the Stationer’s Registrar in 1592 and after its first printing, history was given revenge tragedy staples: Titus Andronicus (1591/92), Hamlet (1600), Macbeth (1606), The Revenger’s Tragedy (1606), and many more. Early Shakespeare you can see Kyd’s influence not only in genre, but also in verse; Shakespeare loosened as his career continued on. Scholars point to The Spanish Tragedy for influencing the popularity of plays-within-plays and characters, like Bel-Imperia, inspiring famous female roles such as Lady Macbeth. The Spanish Tragedy has become the Andrea in the history of revenge tragedy since many usually point to the above plays when the genre is mentioned. However, the beauty of this production will revitalize the significance of this script to this incredible lineage. The Spanish Tragedy is worthy of its own legacy and we will add to it through this piece. Dramaturgical Resources Glossary & pronunciation Guide Initial Responses & Bibliography Content Warnings Education Guide V-File & Playlist Initial Responses & Bibliography Glossary & Pronunciation Guide Content Warnings Villanova Theatre Department’s The Spanish Tragedy contains the following: Depictions of Death by Suicide Depicition of Capital Punishment - Death by Hanging Depictions of Murder Gun Violence Self-Disememberment Loss of an adult child V-File & Dramaturgy PLAYLIST Education Guide Terms & Support Designed with TERMS & SUPPORT This website has been created with Canva, but the content is User Content that is subject to our Terms of Use. If you see anything that breaches our acceptable use policy, please report it to our content review team. Close Report REPORT Reporting helps Canva ensure its content is appropriate and correctly labelled. Why are you reporting this content? Inappropriate content Hateful speech, activities or discrimination Illegal content Defamation or harassment Intellectual Property infringement Misinformation Phishing Something else Cancel Next INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY INFRINGEMENT Please submit an infringement notice to Canva by following the steps in our Intellectual Property Policy. Back Close SOMETHING ELSE Please contact Canva at privacy@canva.com and include the website URL to report other concerns. Back Close REPORT Let's just make sure you're human. Please complete the verification. We weren't able to submit your report right now. Please try again later. Back Submit THANK YOU Thanks for flagging this content as inappropriate. Our content review team is on it and will review as soon as possible. Close