SYNOPSIS

Act One

Scene 1: The Arrival.- After the overture the curtain rises quickly to show a full stage gathering of  nobles and people of Flanders, awaiting the arrival of Juana from Spain and celebrating her imminent marriage to Felipe. Suddenly, the chants of the choir stop as the ship carrying the Hispanic princess is lifted slowly from underneath the stage (rear center). Juana appears with all the tenderness and simplicity of her adolescent years, and sings astonished by the greenery and the beauty of the Flemish landscape (which in future scenes she will associate with her sexual awakening), so contrasting with the arid Castillian lands.  Felipe interrupts her, shocked by the tender figure of Juana and love between them is instantaneous. The people and nobles sing to the encounter while Felipe, enslaved by such an intense attraction, sends for a priest to celebrate the wedding on the spot, without waiting for any other ceremonies.  

Scene II: The stage is divided into three sectors (left, right and center upstage). In them three independent scenes take place simultaneously, two of them acted without singing while the other is being sung, and thus rotating the sequence. One of the scenes correspond to a furtive political meeting in the studio of Fernando (Juana's father). The second corresponds to the wedding night of Juana and Felipe, and the third shows Isabel (Juana's mother) in her dying bed.

Scene IIa: Fate.- In the sector at center upstage we see Fernando's studio. In it the political conveniences of Juana's wedding are being discussed. Lope de Padilla, a Spanish nobleman secretly attracted by Juana's youth and innocence,  is the only one in the room who objects the insensitivity of the ruling class and the manipulation of Juana's future.

Scene IIb: The Night.- The sector to the right shows the place where the couple is spending its first night together. It is a sensuous landscape full of vegetation, running springs and nocturnal birds, all in a suffocating geography. This serves for the couple's love duet and to mark the beginning of Juana's intense infatuation, a passion that won't stop, not even when confronted with death itself.

Scene IIc: The Heritage.- In the sector to the left, Isabel is dying in her bed, accompanied by two nuns. She proclaims Juana as her sole heiress and in a last stroke of melancholy the mother remembers the affections and hopes she put on her young daughter.

Scene III: The Swear in Ceremony.- The three scenes dissappear and we are back in full stage. The Cortes (Parliament) of Castille are receiving Juana as legitimate heiress to the throne. Isabel is dead and the Cortes swear loyalty and fidelity to the new sovereign. Juana herself swear respect to the existing pacts and laws, and promises to govern to the best of her abilities, following her mother's wishes. As a present for the occasion, the Admiral of Castille offers the dance of the natives from the New World. With everybody distracted by the show, Felipe's cup in poisoned, apparently under Fernando's orders. In the middle of the celebration nobody notices the collapse of Felipe until  Juana herself approaches to invite him to join the feast. With a devastating cry she realizes the tragedy, trying desperately to retain the life of the only person she loves.

Act Two

Scene IV: The stage is again divided, this time into two sectors, with two simultaneous scenes. One performing sector is upstage center; the other is front stage. As in scene 2, one is acted in silence while the other is being sung, and vice-versa.

Scene IVa: The Obsession.- In the sector upstage center, dark curtains hang and through them we see Juana on her journey through the Castillian plateau. She carries Felipe's corpse unburied and sings to him as if he were alive. She refuses to accept his death, while two nuns try to convince Juana to give Felipe's body proper burial.

Scene IVb:  The Trial.-   On the sector front stage, we see Fernando who has summoned a Tribunal made of the Bishop, the General and the Judge. He accuses Juana of madness and claims the right to rule in her place. He uses as proof the sad scene being played behind them, which seems to show Juana taking care of Felipe as if he were alive. The only person to defend Juana is Lope de Padilla, as he did before, when Fernando planned her marriage. Fernando's accusations reach a climax and at that point Juana moves from the scene behind and enters the scene of the trial to pronounce her last defense. In spite of it, the Tribunal finds her guilty of madness and decides to suspend her from her royal duties.

Scene V.- The Liberation.- Full stage again. Juana is locked in a lugubrious tower. She has become the victim of a destiny she didn't ask for. She is now destitute of her only youthful aspiration: to love and be loved. The ghosts of her life torment her in a frenzy of accusations and melancholy. Juana relives, in her fragile equilibrium, the happiness of that night when she first met love. But soon realizes that her only chance to escape her circumstance is madness: the freedom of the mad. With the choir begging for  peace for Juana, the queen breaks her last ties with the world of reason.