First Writings for the Stage (1580s)

In the 1580s, Cervantes turned to writing for the stage in pursuit of a career as a professional playwright, capitalizing on the popularity of the public theatres and the lucrative trade it produced. However, after a modicum of success his career was soon thwarted by the comedia nueva and the advent of Lope de Vega in the late-1580s would take that obsession to a national level. This chapter explores the first stage of Cervantes’s writing career prior to this new type of play establishing a monopoly on the tastes of the paying public.