The lieutenant nun: Translation of the Play La famosa comedia de la monja alférez

This chapter consists of a translation of the play, La famosa comedia de la monja alférez (The Famous Play of the Lieutenant Nun). The play was most likely written around 1626, and is now attributed to the Mexican-born playwright Juan Ruiz de Alarcón. The action of the play is wide-ranging geographically and temporally. Set between Lima and Madrid over a period of six to ten years, the play follows the adventures of Guzmán, part pícaro, part soldier and a native of San Sebastian, Spain, who lives as a man in the Americas until being outed - having been assigned female at birth. He then returns to the Spanish court to petition for a military pension and the right to continue living as a man. Loosely based on the seventeenth-century figure, Antonio/Catalina de Erauso, the action includes a love triangle, violence and a family betrayal.