Theater and domestic plays according to the diary of Juan Primo de la Guerra (1775-1819)

Abstract

Before the municipal theaters were built, performing arts took placed in private houses. Local aristocracy used their halls to rehearse and performe drama and comedy plays, mainly durig special events or festivities. In the case of Santa Cruz de Tenerife during Carnivals. The well-nown diary of Juan Primo de la Guerra (1775-1819), iiird Viscount of Buen Paso, is an extraordinary document to study the society of those days through the plays they staged between 1800 and 1819. The large patios and halls of those manor houses set up stages with amazing sceneries and local orchestras. The Hamiltons, the Hantys, the Navas or the Cologans were wealthy families that organised those spectacles with such a great success.