Thomas Shadwell's "The Libertine": a forgotten Restoration Don Juan Play

Abstract

While the London theatres remained closed during the Commonwealth, the companies of actors in Paris were vying with one another for the rights to stage their own French versions of Tirso de Molina's Don Juan play. The Paris audiences, to be precise, had been introduced to the legendary figure of Don Juan by the Italian actors. In 1658 the Italians performed, for the entertainment of the Parisians, Il Convitato di pietra, an adaptation made by Giacinto Andrea Cicognini from Tirso de Molina's El Burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra. There are a number of reasons why this Spanish play caught on with the Paris audiences in those days. One was the peace negotiations conducted between France and Spain, in 1659, and sumptuously celebrated, in 1660, by the marriage contract between Louis XIV and Maria Teresa, daughter of Philip IV. The Spanish Infanta brought along with her a company of Spanish actors which was to stay on in Paris until 1672. It is reasonable to assume that the Spanish actors seized the opportunity to capitalize on the interest of the court and town audiences awakened by the Italian and French adaptations of the Burlador de Sevilla.

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