Long Dead but well Read

Shakespeare’s Contemporaries

ISC Santa Fe has an exciting program called Long Dead But Well Read. It’s modeled on a program at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London called Read not Dead, in which actors convene on a morning, rehearse a play by a contemporary of Shakespeare’s during the day, and present the play in the evening, script in hand.

Our 2023 production was the iconic Spanish Golden Age drama La Vida Es Sueño (Life is a Dream) by Pedro Calderón de la Barca, directed by Alejandro Amundah.

Written around 1630, the play is an allegory on the mystery of life. Its protagonist is Segismundo, Prince of Poland, who has been imprisoned in a tower by his father, King Basilio, following a prophecy that the prince would bring disaster to the country and death to the King. Basilio briefly frees Segismundo, but when the prince goes on a rampage, the king imprisons him again, persuading him that it was all a dream. The play's central themes are the nature of reality, conflict between free will and fate, father and son, and one’s honor. It remains one of Calderón's best-known works, and is listed as one of the 40 greatest plays of all time in The Independent.

History of the Long Dead But Well Read program

2023:

  • La Vida es Sueño (Life is a Dream) by Pedro Calderón de la Barca, directed by Alejandro Amundah

2022:

  • Edward II by Christopher Marlowe, directed by Ariana Karp

  • The Duchess of Amalfi’s Steward by Lope de Vega, directed by Argos MacCallum and co-produced by Teatro Paraguas

  • The Rover by Aphra Behn, directed by Ariana Karp

2021:

  • The Capulets and Montagues by Lope de Vega, directed by Argos MacCallum and co-produced by Teatro Paraguas

  • Arden of Faversham, anonymously penned, directed by Barbara Hatch

2019:

  • The Knight of the Burning Pestle by Francis Beaumont, directed by Karen Machon

  • Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe, directed by Nicholas Ballas

  • The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster, directed by Ariana Karp

2018:

  • The True Chronicle History of King Leir, and his three daughters, Gonorill, Ragan, and Cordella, anonymously penned, directed by Ariana Karp