Evidence Regarding the "Monte" Stage Piece in "Corral" Theatres of the Seventeenth Century

Abstract

This article builds upon another published in 2002 in the Bulletin of the Comediantes by Patricia Kenworthy, entitled “Lope de Vega’s Drawing of the ‘Monte’ Stage Set,” and revisits the question of the physical nature, location, and use of the “monte” stage piece in the “corral” theatres of Madrid and other locations. In particular, this article discusses the merits and limitations of the “monte” drawing found in the autograph manuscript of Lope’s El cardenal de Belén (Bibliteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence: Ms. Ashb.1898, fol. 51v) and attempts to reconcile textual evidence of “monte” usage in the 900+ plays in the Chadwick “Teatro del Siglo de Oro” database with documentary evidence concerning the “monte” presented by other researchers and found in the “Fuentes para la historia del teatro en España” series published by Tamesis. (BWD)