ESCOLA VELHA

(Portuguese: Old School), Spanish dramatists in the early 16th century who were influenced by the Portuguese dramatist Gil Vicente. Although in form Vicente was a medieval dramatist, his skill in comedy and character portrayal and the varied subject matter of his plays made him a forerunner of the modern drama. The best known of the playwrights stimulated by Vicente's innovations were Alfonso lvares and Baltasar Dias, who wrote popular religious plays; Antnio Ribeiro Chiado and his brother Jernimo Ribeiro, writers of satirical farces; and Antnio Prestes and Simo Machado, who evinced a knowledge of folklore and the peasant life.