The promotion of state ideology was pervasive in early modern Spain and its New World colonies. One cultural medium affected, theater--the most popular and viable form of mass entertainment at the time--frequently played a role in the advancement of imperial rule. However, despite censorship and the state control of theaters, early modern dramatists also found novel and covert methods to criticize Spain's handling of its imperial affairs by proposing alternative solutions to the problems with which they dealt.

Imperial Stagings: Empire and Ideology in Transatlantic Theater of...