The Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru was an innovative 1658 theatrical presentation, a hybrid entertainment or masque or "operatic show",[1] written and produced by Sir William Davenant.
Indeed, Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell encouraged the production of this work and Davenant's ensuing The History of Sir Francis Drake (1659) as anti-Spanish propaganda.
Between the Entries, the audience was amused with acrobats who performed "the Trick of Activity, called the Sea-horse," as well as the "Porpoise" and the "double Somerset," plus two trained apes walking a tightrope.
The work was entered into the Stationers' Register on 30 November 1658, and was published soon after in a quarto issued by the bookseller Henry Herringman, under the fulsome title The Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru.
At the end of the text was printed this advertisement: "Notwithstanding the great expense necessary to scenes, and to other ornaments in this entertainment, there is a good provision made of places for a shilling.
Davenant and Herringman appear to have attempted a synergistic approach that foreshadowed modern marketing, with the stage production and the printed text complementing and promoting each other.