Inês de Castro in Theatre and Film: A Feminist Exhumation of the Dead Queen by Aida Maria da Fonseca Jordão A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies University of Toronto © Copyright by Aida Jordão, 2014 Inês de Castro in Theatre and Film: A Feminist Exhumation of the Dead Queen Aida Maria da Fonseca Jordão Doctor of Philosophy The Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies University of Toronto 2014 Abstract Since the fourteenth century when Inês de Castro was laid to rest in her magnificent tomb in the Monastery of Alcobaça, artists worldwide have told the tragic story of the Galician noblewoman who was assassinated for political reasons and became Queen of Portugal after death. Inês embodies beauty, love, innocence, and saudade , and, for the Portuguese, she figures prominently in the national cultural imaginary. This inquiry is a comparative, intertextual, and intermedial study of the representation of Inês de Castro across the centuries, as seen through a feminist lens. Thus, it begins with analyses of Garcia de Resende’s 1516 performative poem “Trovas à morte de D. Inês de Castro” (“Ballad to the Death of Dona Inês de Castro”), and two foundational Iberian plays, Castro (1587) by tragedian António Ferreira, and Reinar después de morir ( To Reign after Death ) (1652) by the popular Luis Vélez de Guevara. These three dramatic texts, built on the Inesian narratives of oral tradition and royal chronicles, establish figurations of Inês that surface in twentieth- and twenty-first-century film, video and performance. The 1945 classic film by José Leitão de Barros, Inês de Castro , with a heroine who is both tragic and romantic, has elements of both Ferreira and Vélez; José Carlos de Oliveira’s 1997 Inês de Portugal plays ii up Inês’s sexuality and evokes Resende’s courtesan; and YouTube videos by Brazilian and Portuguese students are veritable pastiches of the palimpsest Inês has become. In performance, Whetstone Theatre’s 2001 production of John Clifford’s Inés de Castro revives the tragic heroine originated by Ferreira in a tragedy for our days, while Teatro O Bando’s 2011 Pedro e Inês echoes Vélez’s hunted protagonist and the crowned corpse, and O Projecto’s community theatre play of the same year focuses on Ferreirian saudade . Finally, my 2008 performance of Resende’s ballad, with a feminist direction that foregrounds Inês’s authority, closes this circle of representation and opens up a reading of the Dead Queen. In this inquiry, each case study is interrogated to uncover the masculinist discourse of Inesian texts and give Inês a new and fluid identity in the Luso cultural imaginary and beyond. iii Dedication In loving memory of my wondrous parents, Edilia and Manuel Jordão, who, by example, inspired me to read and write for pleasure and politics. iv Acknowledgements I thank: My amazing supervisor, Nancy Copeland, and the dedicated professors on my committee, Corinn Columpar and Jill Ross, who helped me to be a better writer and scholar. Their support of my work started in the feminist courses they taught, endured the dissertation process, and will undoubtedly be part of my academic future. The Drama Centre directors who have listened and counselled, Stephen Johnson, John Astington, Bruce Barton and Paula Sperdakos; the patient staff, Rob Moses, Paul Stoesser, Debbie Loughlin, Marc Goodman, and the late Luella Massey; caring student Laura Lucci; and my wonderful cohort, who accompanied me on this long and tortuous journey, Gabrielle Houle, Alysse Rich and Guillermo Verdecchia. Inesian scholar Maria Leonor Machado de Sousa, Maria de Deus Duarte, the editorial board of Revista de Estudos Anglo-Portugueses , and the organizers of the 2 nd International Conference on Anglo-Portuguese Studies 2011 who confirmed the relevance of my work in Portugal. Maria João Dodman of York University, with her knowledge of Golden Age Spanish and constant encouragement of my studying and teaching. Directors Diana Kolpak and Sérgio Dias, and playwright Miguel Jesus who kindly agreed to dicuss their Inesian plays with me, and Margo Charlton, feminist director extraordinaire, without whom On the Death of Inês de Castro would not have happened. All my friends, colleagues, relatives and neighbours who raised their eyebrows in amazement and listened raptly to my Inesian musings. My dearly departed mother and father, Edilia and Manuel Jordão, and my sister, Clara. The loyal Benji and Salsa. My loving husband Nuno. v Table of Contents Dedication..................................................................................................................................iv Acknowledgements .....................................................................................................................v Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................vi Chapter 1.................................................................................................................................... 1 1 Introduction........................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Inês de Castro as Palimpsest ........................................................................................... 1 1.1.1 The Legend ......................................................................................................... 3 1.1.2 The History......................................................................................................... 6 1.1.3 The Chronicles.................................................................................................... 8 1.1.4 Camões .............................................................................................................11 1.1.5 Saudade .............................................................................................................13 1.1.6 The need for Inês de Castro................................................................................14 1.2 Inesian Criticism............................................................................................................16 1.2.1 Inês as absence...................................................................................................23 1.2.2 Inesian film and performance scholarship...........................................................24 1.3 A Feminist Reading .......................................................................................................25 1.3.1 Feminist medievalists.........................................................................................27 1.3.2 Feminism and theatre .........................................................................................29 1.3.3 Feminism and film .............................................................................................31 1.4 Case Studies: Inês in Portugal and the Diaspora.............................................................34 Chapter 2...................................................................................................................................40 2 The Character of Inês in Iberian Golden Age Plays...............................................................40 2.1 Inesian Drama................................................................................................................40 2.2 Garcia de Resende’s “Trovas”: Giving Voice to the Dead Queen...................................44 vi 2.3 António Ferreira’s Castro : The Tragic Heroine..............................................................64 2.4 Luis Vélez de Guevara’s Reinar después de morir : The Romantic Heroine....................89 2.5 Conclusion: Colo de Garça ..........................................................................................111 Chapter 3.................................................................................................................................116 3 The Figuration of Inês de Castro in National Films .............................................................116 3.1 Woman and Nation: an Inesian Filmography ...............................................................116 3.2 Leitão de Barros’s Inês de Castro : Portugal’s Unlikely Femme Fatale .........................126 3.2.1 Seductress or symbol of innocence? .................................................................132 3.2.1.1 The sensual Inês .................................................................................134 3.2.1.2 The senses of Inês ..............................................................................142 3.2.1.3 A gendered national project................................................................146 3.3 José Carlos de Oliveira’s Inês de Portugal : Desiring Agency.......................................149 3.3.1 Creation and reception of a national symbol .....................................................153 3.3.2 Inês’s execution (formal and narrative).............................................................160 3.4 Whence a Feminist Inês? .............................................................................................173 Chapter 4.................................................................................................................................183 4 Inesian Stagings in the Twenty-First Century......................................................................183 4.1 Performing