Virtual Scenery, Tychoscopy, and Editing in Miguel de Cervantes’ La entretenida

Abstract

Though Cervantes’ theater has been the object of study of textual criticism, of philology, this article analyzes the dramatic text of his comedy La entretenida, which has been little studied, from the perspective of theater studies. The main interest is to recognize the verbal decoration and the ticoscopy as part of the theatrical-scenic language of the author. When considering the impossibility of reaching the stage, Cervantes, in his edition of Ocho comedias y ocho entremeses, nunca antes representados, endows the literary text with spectacular marks that serve the reader to build a virtual staging in their reading, and thus fulfill the theatrical meaning of the text. To portray an author’s text onstage, there are some considerations to bear in mind, and they have to do with the transduction of the language in it. From the poetics, the literary, the drama, to the printed manuscript, also from that last one ciphered text to the staging: there should be a riveting journey that tells us about a complex machinery, which requires a spatial-temporal device to be set in motion. When the script reaches the hands of the Scene Director, or a company of actors, or any other production apparatus; there should be a textual analysis which turns into an essential tool/weapon so that the transduction can succeed, achieving something that comes to life in what is represented. The study is carried out on a play orchestrated by Miguel de Cervantes. The scenic knowledge of the author from Alcalá is staggeringly evident. Cervantes is a man of theater.