Cosme Pérez, whose stage name was Juan Rana, was the star of the seventeenth-century Spanish farce. A favourite of both the monarchy and the general public, he was known for playing the gullible simpleton or country bumpkin. In 1636 he was arrested for the pecado nefando, but in spite of the severe punishments often meted out to homosexuals, he was released immediately due to his popularity and contacts among the aristocracy. Although most critics have skirted the issue of Pérez's sexual orientation, this study sees it as central. Through a meticulous analysis of Rana-plays by different authors, Thompson shows how the actor's homosexuality and the audience's complicit knowledge of his arrest influenced his roles.

One device commonly used in these plays is the doppelgänger, through which the plays addressed moral, sexual or political realities that could not be expressed openly; in the Rana-plays, it was often a scapegoat who served as the butt of jokes and violence. The doppelgänger was realized through the use of dreams, mirrors or images whose reflective and deceptive nature facilitated an interplay of reality and illusion through which the dark areas of human existence were illuminated. By ‘killing’ the scapegoat who embodied society's irregularities, the audience felt cleansed. The Rana figure could also elicit admiration: Calderón's El triunfo de Juan Rana, a tribute to Pérez's successful career, celebrated the acceptance of one's imperfections.

In many plays, Pérez appeared in woman's garb, suggesting ‘contra natura sexuality’. Thompson argues that the actor's transvestism and known homosexuality served to call into question the distinction between male and female and thus the foundation of patriarchal society. Although cross-dressing was used primarily to elicit laughs, the plays also subverted traditional gender roles and exposed their arbitrariness, while calling attention to the subjection and commodification of women. Wordplay and double entendres created a subtext readily understandable to Pérez's complicit audience: References to curly hair, fighting, fencing or being caught in the doorway all had homosexual connotations; similarly, depictions of sticks, swords and other objects had phallic implications. Thompson's painstaking analysis of such metaphors is one of his most significant contributions. In addition to rich information on the theatre and society of the ‘Golden Age’, he also shows to what extent homosexuality permeated court life, and how sexual attitudes began to change at the time. He thus elucidates the cunning and subversiveness of the Rana-plays and, above all, the remarkable career of one of the era's most celebrated actors.