A tribute to Shakespearean drama in nineteenth-century Spain: The case of Manuel Tamayo y Baus’s Un Drama Nuevo

This article analyses how Shakespearean drama provides the backbone of Un drama nuevo (1867), by the Spanish playwright and academic Manuel Tamayo y Baus (1829-1898). In particular, it considers how characters, themes and dramatic strategies from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet and Othello are incorporated into Un drama nuevo, set in 1605 England and led by the characters of Yorick and Shakespeare. Special focus is given to the play-within-a-play device, the themes of convoluted love intrigues and jealousies, and the confusing interrelation of play (i.e., fiction) and reality, against the background of a discussion of nineteenth-century Spanish drama and the history of the translation and performance of the aforementioned plays by Shakespeare in nineteenth-century Spain.