The Role of Stage Directions in the Translation Work of Les Cenci, by Antonin Artaud

Abstract

In proposing a comparative analysis between “Oriental theater and Western theater” in The theater and its double (1993), Antonin Artaud exposes his well - known criticism regarding the submission of the play to the dramatic text. According to Artaud, the western tradition would make the theater a “simple material reflection of the text”, making the separation of  “thea ter from the idea of  the realized text” problematic. Conditioned by this kind of statement is that Les Cenci (2011), written by Artaud and staged for the first time in 1935 under his direction, would cause some discomfort among some of his admirers. For these, there would be a contradiction between the author's theoretical positions and the scenic proposal of a show that, in the end, would orbit around a text. Questioning this type of reception, in a preface written for the play, Michel Corvin (2011) draw s attention to the relevance that scenic indications would have in the work, subverting the importance of stage directions in relation to the set of replicas. Functioning as a score aiming to open the text to its properly theatrical dimension, this information would end up displace it from its supposed centrality. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the role of these stage directions in Les Cenci 's translation work, trying to understand to what extent they would allow to operate a translation practic e that considers the specificities of theatricality that would already be present in the written support of the play itself.