Discordant Visions: Spain and the Stages of London in 1823

Abstract

This essay focuses on the presence of Spain on the London stage in 1823, the year of the French invasion that brought about the end of the liberal regime in Madrid. It specifically examines parliamentary debates (the theatre of politics), the Spanish Fete at Covent Garden, and ‘Spanish’ works performed in the patent theatres, especially the only two original Spanish-themed productions of that year – the operatic melodrama Cortez; or, The Conquest of Mexico and the farce Spanish Bonds; or, Wars in Wedlock. As these different spectacular manifestations reveal, British Romantic-era culture delineated Spain (and its former American colonies) by combining dissonant, ideologically charged materials which brought into focus conflicting political and cultural questions relevant to British, European and global contexts.