Corral de Comedias

The Corral de Comedias de Almagro is the only fully preserved open-air courtyard theatre from the Spanish Golden Age still in its original location and structure. Built in 1628, it is the kind of place that makes you stop in the middle of the Plaza Mayor and stare: a two-storey wooden gallery surrounding a stage, green-shuttered windows on every level, the wooden floor of the old inn courtyard beneath your feet. It seats 300 people and is still used for performances.

The theatre hosts the International Classical Theatre Festival each July, which brings productions of Lope de Vega, Calderón, and their contemporaries to this intimate space. At other times you can visit on a guided tour; the visit includes the stage, the galleries, and the old inn basement. The acoustics — as in all corrales — are remarkable: stand at the back and whisper, and the person on stage hears you clearly.

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A story
The Corral de Comedias was built in 1628 in the courtyard of an inn, which is why its layout responds to two functions at once: rooms for travellers above, performance space below. When the Spanish Golden Age theatre tradition died out in the 18th century, the space was converted to other uses — a tavern, a courthouse, a cinema. It was only in the 1950s that its original structure was rediscovered behind later modifications and its importance recognised.