RUEDA, roo-d'da, Lope de, Spanish actor and dramatist: b. Seville, in the early part of the 16th century d before 1567. He was a gold-beater by t.,_ ie; but became of the most • successful actors 'oft his day. Re- is credited :with being to •Welte popular' Spaniel! drama: and to have been, therefore, the leader . the that 'was • destined shortly afterhisday to produce Lope de Vega, Calderon and the other golden >age of • Spanish' drama.. . hie became the. strafing of piatyens seam to have wandered a Considerable past Of Spain and to •hatroacted: plays Written by Rueda with a •view..to midst the public taste. Therefore, Rueda is credite with having! made of• the 'theatre and tbe profane drama a••popular institution... He vow alto credited in his day with being. an; excelient.dramatidt and a.griodi poet; among' his admirers being Lope de Vega .and Cervantes. It was not until after his death that his works appeared in print. They were collected and published by his friend Juan de Tintoneda from time to time between 1567 and, 1588, This collection consists of 10 ',soap or dramatic interludes based upon some simple episode; two dialogues (in verse); finer comedias and two pastoral colliques, all, with the exception noticed, in prose; and all beating the earmarks of having been written for. presentation Upon the stage, evidently by his own company. The comedias are divided into scenes, but not into acts. These are en titled 'Los Engatios); (Eufemia> and the last of which is decidedly the best from both the dramatic and the liter ary points of view, but it employs mythological characters in a weird and startling manner, which nevertheless display the author's origi nality and boldness. His manner in the comedias, as in all his work, is light and quite natural even when he deals with supernatural characters. His comic parts are also pre
sented and in fact the comedy is the only really good part of his two pastoral colloquies, the better of which is 'Timbria.' The two dia logues (Frendas de Amor> and 'Dia1ago sobre lafinstaichindaiasradeas,> asgether with some ossatitate practically all of Rueda's poetry. that 'has come down to us. In all his dramastand other works Rtteda shows an ap preciation of the chief factors in the entertain ment iof the thentre-going public. In fact the audience seems •0 be ever in his mind. This is Radoubtedly why both Cervantes and Lope de Vega. credited him with bang the father of Molar national drama in Spam. His greatest move in the right direction for the creation of a national drama was his selection of his personages, subjects and scenes from the com mon life around him_ This permitted him to, be at once, natural and familiar without danger of losing the interest or respect of his audience. In other words, he realized the dra matic ,e4iment in life and its compelling interest as no. Spanish dramatist previous to his day had done; and he set the fashion for repre senting life in a more or less realistic manner for the great national dramatists who followed hini and, to a certain extent, imitated him. Among the editions of, his works are two of note, to addition to that by Timonecla, that by thee Marquis' de la Fuensanta' del Valle (Madrid 180.-96), and that by Emil Cotarelo y 'Mori. (Madtid 1908). • Consult Cotarelo v MOri,
Estudios de
literaria de Espana> (Vol. I, Madrid 1901); Pitzmaurice Kelly, to History of Spanish Literature> (New York 1008) •, Salazar, S. 'Lope de Rueda y sn teatro> '(Santiago de Cuba 1911), and Ticknor,