With this volume, the scope of the Fuentesseries widens both geographically and chronologically. The first volumes dealt with Madrid, concentrating, though not exclusively, on the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Later volumes covered Alcalà de Henares, Tudela and Córdoba. In the present volume Francisco Reus Boyd-Swan lists the plays performed in the theatres of Alicante during the first decade of the twentieth century.
Recent critics have become aware of the need to treat the theatre of the provinces of Madrid in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as seriously as that of the capital, and to study it in equal depth. In his Introduction the author recounts the history of the twelve theatres which were in use in the period and studies legislation affecting the theatres, special performances, times and prices of perfomances and analyses the theatre-going public and the types of plays presented.
The main listing of plays is in chronological order, supported by indexes of playwrights, librettists and composers. Twelve illustrations include plans of theatres and reproductions of contemporary posters.
FRANCISCO REUS BOYD-SWAN is a graduate of the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Spain's Open University.