The Triumphant Juan Rana: A Gay Actor of the Spanish Golden Age

Ian C. Nelson, Librarian Emeritus, former Assistant Director of
Libraries (University of Saskatchewan) and dramaturge (Festival de la
Dramaturgie des Prairies).

None other than Calderуn de la Barca lauded Juan Rana as “the maximo
gracioso” (the greatest buffoon) of the Spanish Golden Age. Over 50
entremeses were written specifically for him, with many carrying his
name in the title—a certain indicator of his popularity. His name
became attached to a stage persona similar to the Italian Harlequin, and
he was lionized by the Spanish nobility in spite of the fact that in
1636 he was arrested for crimes against nature (in other words, sodomy,
el pecado nefando). Curiously and somewhat inexplicably, he was quickly
released and enjoyed a long career garnering documented royal esteem
playing entremeses that often alluded to the charges that had been made.
In ill health just two years before his death in 1672, he was summoned
for what would be his last command performance—the aptly titled El
triunfo de Juan Rana by Calderуn de la Barca! Need one note that this
was not an age generally tolerant of homosexuals?

In examining the gay actor’s life and stage performances, Peter E.
Thompson (assistant professor in the Department of Spanish and Italian
at Queen’s University) analyses a half-dozen of the more famous
theatrical interludes made-to-measure for this comic icon. Using a
half-dozen key primary sources and a long list of esteemed secondary
texts, he characterizes Rana’s famous presentational tropes as prime
indicators of contemporary attitudes toward women, mimesis, social
structure, and the sexual outsider. This meticulously researched study
brings together themes only touched on by other scholars to date and
presents them in a coherent and convincing reading that is a welcome
addition to the literature of gender and gay studies. Thompson’s book
will additionally stand as a valuable text for advanced university
programs dealing with political and social commentary found in the art
and stage conventions of the Golden Age.

Of particular note is the author’s adept explanations of amphibolic
texts with their ingenious plays on words and ambiguous verbal
resonances used to convey various layers of comic meaning. Direct
quotations are given first in Spanish of the day and then in English.