Life is a Dream

An omen predicts that Prince Segismundo will grow up to become a tyrant and overthrow the kingdom. The fearful king locks his child in a mountain cave to thwart the prophecy, but decades later becomes convinced that he has made a mistake and places his grown son on the throne. Unprepared, Segismundo wreaks bloody vengeance on the kingdom. the prophecy fulfilled, Segismundo is returned to captivity, persuaded that his experience of the real world has only been a horrible dream. Calderon de la Barca's Spanish Golden Age existential political thriller explores the nature versus nurture paradigm and the connection between reality and our hopes and dreams.