Life is a Dream
by Pedro Calderón de la Barca, translated by John Clifford
Burton Taylor until Saturday 9th March

This play is set in the royal court in Poland, though this is only the setting. The play itself is about political tyranny and intrigue in Spain during a particularly turbulent period of its history. The stage set comprises a single chair in a blackened room. Only haunting musical interludes relax the intimate atmosphere between actors and audience, who surround the stage.

Segismundo has been chained up in a tower by his father, King Basilio, since the day he was born. He is gripped by mental torture and the lunacy of feeling that being alive is a crime. He craves the freedom which he sees in nature, but which is denied to men. The king was guided by the stars and superstition to imprison his son and he feared Segismundo would overthrow and enslave him. Now he is caught in a conflict of God’s prophecy, and his power, against his son’s freedom. Basilio decides to set Segismundo free for just one day, which happens to be the day Rosaura, who has turned up seeking revenge over her lover, stumbles upon the secret prince and so faces death herself.

The question central to the father/son conflict, and the play as a whole, is to what extent human beings may guide their own lives freely, and whether they are able to use the power, that follows, wisely, and with humility. On release, Segismundo’s first act is to kill a man and almost rape Rosaura. Yet it soon becomes clear that his lack of restraint stems from imprisonment. In the end, the people come out on the streets in favour of Segismundo over the king and his tyranny. He brings his father and the old political regime to his feet, but refrains from taking revenge.

The play delivers a strong Christian message that there is little wisdom in revenge or further provocation or cruelty. Now the insurrection has passed there is no time or space for the traitors and rebels who must remain locked in the tower. Only forgiveness, the real expression of Segismundo’s power, and the restoration of a belief in human goodness will bring about the possibility of permanent happiness and freedom.
In prison Segismundo was only able to dream of possibilities and ambitions in the world, not live them. It is only at the end of the play that he concedes that life, although shaped and driven by dreams, may be more than just the fiction and illusion he once conceived it to be. It takes Clarin, the fool, and on stage and in a world of madness, the voice of reason, to point out that without dreams and ambition there can be no real change.

Life is a Dream is a 17th century play from the Golden age of Spanish literature. This is a courageous choice of play for an end of term student production, and the actors, many of whom are at Magdalen college, deliver a courageous and sustained performance. The play seemingly offers little time or reason for laughter, although Clarin, the enlightened fool, is an inspired exception. The players, with some notable individual performances, engage an appreciative audience in plot, ideals and passions of the period, and demonstrate they still have currency today.

Stephanie Kitchen 05.03.02