THE FIESTA BURLESCA, MOJIGANGA AND OPERA

The best place to start examining the teatro breve’s presence in the comedia is the comedia burlesca, its often-ignored counterpart. While the comedia burlesca shares characteristics with the entremés, it is the mojiganga that offers the best point of comparison because of its dramatic structure and overwhelmingly festive elements (all of which take precedence over plot and burla, in the sense of an extended practical joke), which correspond to the comedia burlesca’s negation of structuring narrative elements and utter lack of serious moments onstage. Both the mojiganga and the comedia burlesca are much more of a party than a story told in dramatic fashion. Calderón’s comedia burlesca, Céfalo y Pocris, is a masterpiece of non-stop joking that exceeds in mirth any mojiganga by fourfold, and can match any piece of teatro breve in its sheer concentration of jokes.

Céfalo y Pocris contains far too many jokes to mention, the majority of them parodies. Attempting to categorise these parodies alone, while mentioning select examples, occupies half of Alberto Navarro González’s introduction to his edition. Therefore, I shall avoid specifically commenting on the parodies found within the play, for they are explained well enough by the editor. The continuous stream of parodic references can be compared to those listed in our analysis of El toreador, but they are far greater in number and variety, given the length of this comedia burlesca. Yet Céfalo y Pocris has barely a narrative thread, and in this sense cannot be compared to any relatively well-plotted entremés. Leaving aside the extremely tenuous marriage plot, the only relevant narrative element of the play is the moment (anticipated by the audience) in which Céfalo shoots Pocris accidentally. However, when this event occurs, it is little more than another excuse to make jokes, one more ridiculous scene among dozens, quickly assembled onstage and replaced just as quickly by the next in line. The same is true of the tenuous love intrigues that whimsically appear out of nowhere. The main purpose of these intrigues is to parody the melodramatic exploits of the comedia de capa y espada. Aside from featuring degraded protagonists who gain no sympathy from the audience, the situations themselves are dramatically degraded in their sheer lack of relevance to any plot.