Textual Space and Scenic Space in La nuit juste avant les forêts by B. M. Koltès
Textual Space and Scenic Space in La nuit juste avant les forêts by B. M. Koltès

Summary/Abstract: The present article seeks an interpretation of the textual perspective of the double stance of the theatre space: the space of representation and story, in a reference to the Koltesian drama, namely La nuit juste avant les forêts. The playwright and the textual core were chosen as an attempt to settle and shade these theoretical concepts, based on a text meant to be read rather than performed. The analysis is structured on three levels of interpretation: an historical perspective, the development of the theory of forms and theatrical techniques, as well as the continuous swinging between the textual and the dramatic supremacy; a second perspective that seeks dramatic space operation, namely, the indexes of spatial level concerning both the performance and the text behind the performance – or the spatial stage directions and a final perspective regarding the arrangements for the textual outline used for building the story. Starting from spatial analysis, we also approached a definition of the Koltesian character and of the narrative resort addressing its monologue in an emblematic Koltesian dramatic space: the tentacular and anguishing city that grinds its occupants. The character is seen as an outsider, a foreigner who gets lost in the urban night.

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