Tirso de Molina [ Fray Gabriel Téllez] (
c.1571–1648), Spanish ecclesiastic, whose secular works include a number of plays, of which more than 80 are extant, though he claimed to have written 400. Their technique derives from that of his near contemporary Lope de
Vega Carpio, whom he much admired, but it is modified in his case by his greater interest in the psychology of his characters. He was particularly good at drawing women at their wittiest and most intelligent in such comedies as
Don Gil de la calzas verdes (
The Man in Green Breeches,
c.1611), in which he employs his favourite comic device of women disguised as men, and
El vergonzoso en palacio (
The Bashful Man at Court,
c.1612). Among his historical plays, the best is undoubtedly
La prudencia en la mujer (
Prudence in Woman,
c.1622), in which he draws an excellent picture of the heroic Queen Maria and points a moral for the Spanish politicians of his own time. Tirso was also the author of four
autos sacramentales, and of a number of religious plays of which an excellent example is
El condenado por desconfiado (
Damned for Lack of Faith,
c.1624); but his masterpiece is
El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra (
The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest,
c.1630), the first of many plays on the subject of
Don Juan, which was staged by the
RSC in 1990.
