Students will demonstrate their understanding of entremés by taking notes and expressing how entreméses would have worked in Fuente Ovejuna. Students will read Act III of Fuente Ovejuna together as a class.
Put students into groups of 4-5. Give them a few minutes to discuss what moment they want to stage from Fuente Ovejuna Act II. They are to create three tableaux to show this moment. They need to create a title for their work (one title for the moment they chose).
Have the groups perform their works.
QUIZ:
Highlight the tableaux work just performed as a review for Act II. Why did the groups choose the moments they did? How can those portrayals serve as reminder for what happened in Act II?
Hand out the Act II reading quiz. At the end of the five-minute quiz time give the students 20 seconds to go to any ONE person in the room and ask them anything about the quiz. They can only talk to one person and at the end of the twenty seconds they must give their quiz to someone else to grade. Count down the time.
Grade the quiz together as a class.
INSTRUCTION;
Today will be focused on learning about entremés. This is a short play that was performed in the Spanish Golden Age during intermission of a longer play or comedia. Have students share why they think it would be useful to have a play performed during intermission.
Have students take notes on the following information about entreméses:
They were short, social satires with lots of physical comedy, music, and dance.
The characters were familiar to urban audiences—characters they could relate to and laugh at such as foolish or dishonest doctors, lawyers and officials.
The plot was little more than a succession of characters who engage in verbal sparring until the tension is resolved in the ritual climax of song and dance.
They became popular because they were a light relief from the main action of the play; they distracted the audience during necessary changes in costume/scenery; they may even have been counted on rescue a struggling performance from failure.
It was a world of low-comedy. Everyday people who were dealing with everyday problems (jealousy, money, etc.) and overcoming them with an ease at the end that wasn’t realistic.
FILM:
Show the next 5-8 minutes of the film. Have students write in their journals any connections they make in the film to the notes they just took about entreméses: in character, plot, physical comedy, music, social satire, etc.
Have seven students share something from their journal.
READING SCRIPT:
Assign students to read the roles in Act III of Fuente Ovejuna. Have students continue to jot down ideas and observations of Spanish Golden Age connections, etc.
At the conclusion of the reading, have students write either in their journal or in their notes what entreméses would have done if performed in between the acts of Fuente Ovejuna. What themes could those intermission performances have focused on? What type of music could have been used? How could the lighter, physical play have relieved the tension and drama of the play?
CONCLUSION:
Remind students that we will be reviewing as a class Fuente Ovejuna in class next time. If they have missed any reading or want to review any of the play they need to do so before next class.
