Pedro Calderón de la Barca

Cesar has been reared as a girl because his mother wanted him to avoid the rigors of war -- he dresses and acts as a woman in accordance with his upbringing -- but attempts to win the princess Serafina's hand. Lisarda disquises herself as a man and also attends the competition, to exact revenge against her former love, Federico.

'Life is a Dream' is a masterpiece from the Spanish Golden Age by Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600-81), exploring illusion, reality and fate against the backdrop of a mythical Polish kingdom. Helen Edmundson's version, written entirely in blank verse, was first performed at the Donmar Warehouse, London, on 13 October 2009.

As the title indicates, Pedro Calderon de la Barca's Jealousy tragically dramatizes the same key themes and emotions that preoccupied Shakespeare in Othello. His portrayal of the mind and passion of King Herod, a ruler traditionally vilified in Catholic Spain during Calderon's age, reveals a compassionate understanding and lack of prejudice. Through the madness of possessive love and jealousy, Herod first destroys his wife's love and trust, and then her life.

Pedro Calderon de la Barca (1600-81) was one of the great poets and dramatists of Spain's golden age, a rival of Cervantes and Lope de Vega. His work, like that of his contemporary Velásquez, mirrors perfectly the society of his time. It also captures certain defining qualities of the Spanish mind: its strong sense of faith and honor, its mystical and romantic bias, and its finely tuned historical consciousness. Staples of Spanish golden age drama, Calderon's plays remain superb entertainment. Marking the 400th anniversary of the playwright's birth, this reissue of Edward Fitzgerald's masterful translations includes The Mighty Magician, a Faustian story of religious conversion; The Painter of His Own Dishonor, a tale of jealousy that reflects the strict Spanish honor code; and Calderon's symbolic and philosophical masterpiece, Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made Of.

Don Pedro has it all - high position, wealth, a beautiful family - and enjoys the good life in the heart of the Spanish capital. But now he faces a challenge that would test the patience of a saint. It is time to marry off his daughters. It's bad enough that his eldest Beatriz is both obsessed by the latest fashions and talks like a university professor, but his youngest Leoner is already enjoying illicit midnight trysts with her lover and is in no mood to accept an arranged marriage.

The present edition of the comedy La banda y la flor by Pedro Calderón de la Barca is part of a critical edition devoted to the complete comedies by this author, funded by GRISO (Grupo Investigación Siglo de Oro), Universidad de Navarra, and under the direction of Prof. Dr. Ignacio Arellano. This volume contains the literary study of the comedy, the philological annotation, as well as the critical edition of the play itself.