¡Fuego suena en partes varias! Una convención dramática áurea, la escena de incendio

In this work I analyze the development, in the first quarter of the 17th century, of a spectacular feature that had a great success in the Spanish theater: the fire scene. Probably originated in some urban comedies of the first period of Lope de Vega, authors extended this motif mostly to hagiographic comedies in the second decade of the century, and to historical comedies in the early twenties, especially through the work of Tirso de Molina. In this period, the scene went from being staged essentially with sound effects, without any usage of real fire, to also include other elements of performance and exploitation of the theater space, such as the rescue of the lady by the gallant, the servants who carry and break pitchers, or the use of balconies to simulate the fire place.