The Actator Found as First Micronaut, from "Auto de la Pasión" to Cervantine Metatheater

Abstract

This essay examines the “actator,” who is found in early modern Spanish theatre to be the original example of the micronaut. First, the definition of the actator will be explored, in both directions, from spectator to actator and from actor to actator, with additional information about the channel of communication between actor and spectator, and the intermediary space thereby formed, with attention paid to the glass, or fourth, wall. Second, a detailed analysis of the multiple examples of the actator in Alonso del Campo’s medieval play Auto de la Pasión will be given, studying both actors and spectators through the examination of the deployment of the dramatic devices, such as the monologue, in all of its sub-categories and functions. Research findings by Carmen Torroja Menéndez, María Rivas Palá, Hans-Jürgen Diller, and Cynthia Bourgeault will be referenced. Then, a cursory examination of the renaissance-baroque metatheatre of Miguel de Cervantes, specifically in the entremés «El retablo de las maravillas» and the comedia Pedro de Urdemalas, will offer additional examples of the early actator, including the most ambitious of all, Pedro de Urdemalas himself. Here, the investigative work by Thomas Austin O’Connor and Jean Canavaggio will be included. Finally, all of this is expected to substantiate and prove that the first micronaut is actually the actator, as found in early modern theatre of Spain.