Las acotaciones en los impresos y manuscritos de La dama duende (siglo XVII)

Stage directions in 17th-century printed copies of Calderón de la Barca’s La dama duende are much more detailed than those in the manuscripts, therefore it is likely that the printed stage directions derive from a theatrical script. The manuscripts, also originated in theatrical circles, are probably closer to the original written by the playwright as far as the stage directions are concerned. At the same time, there is evidence that the modifications introduced in stage directions affect modifications in the text. We also analyse stage directions in the edition of Calderón’s play by Vera Tassis, which is intended for reading, and stage directions related to the cupboard, a key piece of intrigue and scenery.

Herramientas embotadas

This article tackles the problem of editing the stage directions from a neo-Lachmannian point of view. After considering the nature of the stage direction a sign within the semiotic nature of the theatrical text, the behaviour of the copyists in the manuscript and printed transmission of the Spanish theatre of the Golden Age is taken into account, in order to analyse those problems that arise in the application of the method in the phase of constitutio textus. Thus, the focus is on four paradigmatic cases: variants stemming from different staging; variants within a recensio cum stemmate; variants in a contaminatio; lack of stage directions either in one-witness traditions or in the archetype.

Lope ante la puesta en escena

The present work tries to deal with some questions about the stage directions in Lope de Vega’s autograph comedies, an aspect that has been neglected by the critic and that needs to be analysed in depth. We will study three aspects (location, verbal forms and graphic indications) to contribute ideas, clarify details, launch hypotheses, and above all, invite reflection and research.

Las Comedias escogidas de Lope de Vega por Juan Eugenio Hartzenbusch

This essay discusses one of the aspects related to the interliminars of the edition of Lope de Vega’s comedies undertaken by Juan Eugenio Hartzenbusch, an edition that is still highly valuable to the modern critic. The reading that the 19th-century scholar did for the edition of the «Biblioteca de Autores Españoles» proved to be an interesting proposal of dramatic interpretation of classic Spanish theatre.

Las acotaciones de Calderón

This paper intends to outline a panorama of the stage directions present in the seven plays by Calderón de la Barca of which the autograph manuscript has been preserved, in order to observe the modifications they suffered when the texts were transmitted to other ancient testimonies, with some specific references to modern critical editions. The analysis intends to show if there is regularity in this process, either towards the amplification, or towards the reduction, of the stage directions written by Calderón. It has been verified, however, that neither Calderón was regular in his writing practice with respect to the stage directions, nor were the following testimonies, no matter if they were printed editions or company manuscripts, although the genre and the scenic complexity of the plays seem to be behind the behaviour of the poet. Only in the Vera Tassis editions a conscious and quite systematic work regarding the stage directions has been perceived, tending in general to the addition of explicit indications that could be deduced from the dialogue, with the intention, presumably, of facilitating the reading of the texts.

«Un apoyo que no hay que desdeñar»

In the 17th century, French stage directions seem less numerous and more succinct than Spanish stage directions. This article provides an overview of the development of stage directions in French theatre from the 16th to the 17th century. The analysis of several revealing cases shows the diversity of French stage directions and highlights their intricate issues. The division between scripts for performance and texts for reading progressively gives way to a polyvalent dramatic text. The stage directions meet then the expectations of the actors as well as those of the readers and are quite often under the control of the dramatic poet, which enjoys a certain authority.

La edición de las acotaciones

The main objective of this article is to clarify both the meaning of the use of the word aparte (aside) in the autographs of Lope de Vega, and the use of other verbal expressions or graphic marks that refer to the disposition of the actors on the stage to speak separately, with obvious spatial and enunciative implications. Therefore, the article deals with the use of ‘aside’ in the Spanish Comedia, the indication of the ‘asides’ in the manuscripts and printed texts of the 17h century, its treatment in the edition of modern dramatic texts, and the perspectives that the digital medium opens for the edition of the stage directions and, in particular, of those that indicate the asides.

La edición de variantes didascálicas en el teatro inglés de la época de Shakespeare

This essay describes how variants in stage directions and speech prefixes of early modern plays (between 1585 and 1642), have been treated in modern editions from the 19th century to the present. The analysed variants derive both from different (usually printed) witnesses and from a single manuscript witness when the stage directions and speech prefixes are altered by a hand different from the main manuscript hand. Prior to this description, the essay offers an overview of the editorial treatment of stage directions in general in English plays of the period.

Editar el escenario portugués

This essay deals with different levels of stage directions to be found in both manuscripts and printed chapbooks of Portuguese Theatre from the 16th to the very early 19th centuries and the challenges they present to the modern editor. They range from the total absence of explicit directions to the multiple register of the same indication repeated in each actor’s paper of the play, and even to their addition by later editors. This chapter analyses several cases that may be considered paradigmatic of the difficulties to be found when editing those texts, setting different degrees of intervention.

Acotaciones en las adaptaciones neerlandesas de las comedias de Lope de Vega

This article examines a corpus of plays by Lope de Vega translated to Dutch during the 17th century, analysing how they use stage directions and what this use reveals about the function of the printed texts in which they appear. We will work with a corpus of 19 plays. After an introduction on Dutch theatre books, we will examine different kinds of stage directions, lato and stricto sensu. Lato sensu, we will focus on genre definitions in the front page (comedy, tragedy, tragicomedy, etc.), on the engravings and mottoes, and on data on authors, adapters, first staging, and reeditions. Stricto sensu, we will study the lists of dramatis personae and stage directions. For this detailed, qualitative study, we will focus on a corpus of two adaptations of palace plays by Lope: El amigo por la fuerza (Gedwongen vriendt, 1646) and El cuerdo loco (Voozigtige dolheit, 1649).