Gil Vicente (c.1465- c.1536) Portuguese playwright and poet in both Portuguese and Spanish as well as an actor and director. He is considered to be the "father" of Portuguese and Spanish theatre as well as the "father" of Hispanic theatre as a whole.

Vicente's notice as a writer was a result of his association with the royal court of King John II of Spain. He contributed to court dramtic functions and he was noticed by the Dowager Queen Leonore and commissioned to write the first of what would become a plethora of theatrical works.

Monólogo do Vaqueiro (Monologue of the Cowherd)

Th first work of Vicente's is believed to have been written for the birth of the future king John III in 1502. Vicente may have even acted or recited the piece himself. In the monologue a cowherd finds himself in the royal bedchamber . Dazzled by the palace the lowly cowherd makes an offer, on the behalf of the people of Spain, to the royal infant.

Morality Plays

In his morality plays, Vincente's mastery of this ancient form. Using the morality plays of the Middle Ages, he introduced theatrical ideas from mumming and the auto sacrementales or religious plays that were used in Spanish Corpus Christi festivals.

One of his first attempts with this form was the play Auto da Fé (Play of the Soul, 1510). It takes the form of a pure morality play as it explores the journey of the Soul into the arms of the Mother Church. On the way, the soul is waylaid by the Devil and led to goodness by an Angel.

Vicente's trilogy called the Barcas is considered one if his finest consisting of Barca do Inferno (Ship of Hell, 1516), Barcas do Purgatório (Ship of Purgatory, 1518), and Barco da Glória (Ship of Glory or Heaven, 1519). These plays are morality plays combined with social commentary. All three plays places mankind at the point of death in a dock waiting for one of two ships that will take to one of two destinations.

Farsas (Farces)

For his farces and comedies, Vicente had only indigenous popular entertainments as a precursor. He created comedies that utilized slapstick humor but also satire on social classes like that that he used in his Barcas trilogy.

One of the characteristics that appear in these farces is his use of special language to separate the racial and social classes in his play.

The staging of these plays used the simplicty of morality plays. Two simultaneous scenes might utilize a single curtain to divide them.

Auto da Índia (Play of India, 1509) is one of his first comedies and it show a great deal of confidence. The action is comparable to a modern bedroom farce. Vicente wrote farces throughout the rest of his life.

Vicente's work in creating news forms such as the Spanish farce and raising the morality play to its apotheosis created the base upon which Hispanic drama would be built. Though his works were later supressed by the Spanish Inquistion, he is now recognized as one of the greatest dramatists of the Spanish Renaissance .