＂Taking into account the ephemeral nature of performance, this book develops innovative approaches to the reconstruction of historical staging practices through the lens of Spanish classical
theater. Vidler emphasizes the need to take into account not only structures of culture, but also the human capacity to manipulate those structures for both individual and group expression.
Through a detailed analysis of approaches to space, the body, the stage object, and the spectator in the comedia, it is possibleto discern analyzable artifacts that permit us to reconstruct
significant aspects of early modern stagings. Furthermore, because it actively engages and intertwines both objective and subjective modes of interpretation, Vidler argues that performance
theory itself will be the locus of the next breakthroughs in interpretive studies＂--
