Abstract

Performers have always known what cognitive scientists have only recently discovered: that theater begins and ends in the imagination and that, ultimately, the work of actors is to make audiences see precisely that which does not exist. This chapter analyzes the work of two contemporary jongleuresque performers and engages with recent research in the field of cognitive literary studies. This essay discusses the genesis of early modern drama as unembellished performance rooted in the jongleuresque tradition, as opposed to in play scripts. By doing so, it reevaluates the contribution of the performative aspects of theater, vis-à-vis the textual/literary in the historiography of the Renaissance Spanish drama. It also sheds new light on the origins of the early modern stage.