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The Sor Juana Project: A Reading of Love is the Greater Labyrinth
In Love is the Greater Labyrinth — newly translated UCLA’s Diversifying the Classics — Sor Juana reimagines and transforms the classical myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. In Sor Juana’s version, Theseus (Teseo) braves the labyrinth and defeats the monster, but then confronts a greater challenge: an emotional labyrinth created by beautiful princesses, rival lovers, tyrannical kings, and scheming servants.
At the heart of the play, Theseus is torn between his duty to Ariadna, who helped him survive the Minotaur, and his love for her sister, Fedra. Around this central issue, Sor Juana constructs a story designed to delight the audience full of music, masked balls, mistaken identities, midnight trysts, and duels to the death. By reimagining the story of Theseus and the Minotaur as a multi-sided love story for a seventeenth-century audience in New Spain, Sor Juana has created a new type of myth, one that speaks as clearly and powerfully to our contemporary moment as it did to the court of a Viceroy in colonial Mexico City.
Humanities Event Series
Humanities Event Series
The Humanities Program's signature series features poets, theater performances, and lectures. We invite students to engage with ancient and modern core texts in ways that encourage reflection on what gives one’s life value and meaning.
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The Humanities Event Series is supported by partnerships with academic departments, resource centers, and grants. We welcome contributions to continue student engagement through our signature events.
Sponsors
This event is sponsored by the Humanities Program at Revelle College, the UC San Diego Parents Fund, the Revelle College 60th Anniversary Committee, the UC San Diego Alumni Association, Chicanx and Latinx Studies, and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. Additional support was provided by UCLA's Diversifying the Classics.
Any views or opinions expressed in this program are solely those of the speaker(s) and/or organizer(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the Office of the Vice Chancellor.
Land Acknowledgement
The UC San Diego community holds great respect for the land and the original people of the area where our campus is located. The university is built on the unceded territory of the Kumeyaay Nation. Today, the Kumeyaay people continue to maintain their political sovereignty and cultural traditions as vital members of the San Diego community. We acknowledge their tremendous contributions to our region and thank them for their stewardship.¹
¹UC San Diego Intertribal Resource Center Land Acknowledgement
Design
Graphic designed by Andy Metcalf, Revelle College Class of 2026.
Synopsis
Act I
The play opens with two princes, Baco of Thebes and Lidoro of Epirus, sending musicians to express their love for the two princesses of Crete: Ariadna and Fedra. Their father, King Minos of Crete, enters, and the audience learns that his son had died fighting against the city of Athens. In response, Minos had forced the Athenians to send a regular tribute of young men and women to be sacrificed to the Minotaur in his famous Labyrinth. In the most recent tribute, the prince of Athens, Teseo (Theseus), had been chosen. Teseo appears, and he summarizes his history of heroic deeds for the king and his court. Between the sight of Teseo and the account of his deeds, both Ariadna and Fedra fall in love with him. Fedra and Teseo speak for the first time, and the princess tells the hero not to lose hope. Ariadna, becoming jealous, decides to earn Teseo’s love by rescuing him from the Labyrinth. Baco, meanwhile, overhearing Ariadna speaking about Teseo, has become convinced that she loves Lidoro and decides to begin courting Febra to make her jealous.
Act II
As the second act opens, Minos remains consumed by grief and vengeance while his daughters are planning a masked ball in his honor. Teseo—who has defeated the Minotaur and escaped from the Labyrinth offstage between Acts I and II—is torn between his love for Fedra and sense of obligation to Ariadna for helping him to survive. Meanwhile, both Ariadna and Fedra send Teseo markers that he should wear at the ball. After a series of misidentifications, both princesses believe that they have arranged to meet Teseo alone in the gardens late at night, Teseo thinks that he is going to meet Fedra, and Baco believes that he is going to meet Ariadna. The resulting scene leads to confusion and, eventually, violence as Teseo and Baco cross swords, although Baco thinks his real rival continues to be Lidoro.
Act III
In the final act, Baco challenges Lidoro to a duel, but the message goes astray. Teseo and Lidoro—neither one recognizing the other—fight and Lidoro is killed. Baco, having arrived late to the duel, is charged with Lidoro’s death. As a result, Baco decides to flee. Ariadna, knowing that Teseo killed Lidoro, prepares to leave with him. Teseo and Fedra—having declared their love for one another—also prepare their escape. As they attempt to slip away, there is once again general confusion about who is who, and the scene again devolves into violence as Baco and Teseo come to blows. Before the fight escalates, Minos arrives on the scene with the guards and– having discovered that his daughtered planned to flee along with the identity of the princes–orders everyone to be executed. Before the order could be executed, Athenians soldiers arrive, and Teseo pardons Minos. With this gesture, Minos finally sets aside his anger and agrees to the marriage of Teseo and Fedra as well as that of Baco and Ariadna, who has come to realize that Teseo will never love her. Finally, the servants get into the act and couple off before the play comes to an end.
