Adaptations de la matière de Bretagne au théâtre, paradoxes arthuriens et potentiels dramaturgiques

Details

Supervisors

Châtel, Jonathan

Faculty

Faculté de philosophie, arts et lettres

Degree label

Master [120] en arts du spectacle

Abstract

enThe popularity of the Matter of Britain since its medieval beginning caused a certain amount of contradictions to pile up in its various rewritings. Today most of those paradoxes hold a place in our collective psyche, narrowing the spectator’s horizons of expectation when he is attending a stage adaptation of the myth. In addition to the inevitable limitations of the performance modalities, the traditional dramatic form is a considerable constraint in itself. An Arthurian stage adaptation would therefore leave little place for innovation. However, by the end of the 19th century the “crisis of drama” has stimulated playwrights to free themselves from the constraints of tradition. For a handful of artists this will translate into a freed appropriation of the Matter of Britain. This paper will look into three modern stage adaptations: Guillaume Apollinaire’s L’Enchanteur pourrissant, Tankred Dorst’s Merlin oder Das wüste Land and Florence Delay and Jacques Roubaud’s Graal Théâtre. The purpose of this analysis will be to demonstrate how these authors overcome Arthurian contradictions in order to transcend the dramatic form.