The Real on Stage: A Scenography Beyond Representation

Abstract

This article intends to problematize ​​scenography as a representation of other places for and inside the stage. Spatial and visual creations in the stage context are still systematically thought of as responses to a referent, establishing a tie to identification and reality as a model in the realm of scenography. The text seeks to analyse some models where this apparent natural relationship is discussed, observing the growth of non-referential reality in the contemporary scene. It is structured in three theses which consider the possibility of abandoning the concept of representation to inform the modus operandi of scenographic creation in the context of the performing arts. The first conveys set design as desirably realistic representations in the wake of the development of western culture so that the second can introduce the hypothesis of another understanding of reality on stage. This transformation, produced by a desire to give up the representation discussed in the second part, even shows a possible gap between the usual set design and another concept of scenography, based on tangible materiality on stage. The third approach, driven by challenges to normative models of understanding reality, suggests destabilizing semiotic models and leading the scenography to an interpretation based on the individual experience of corporeal places, thus promoting the rise of a certain type of real on stage beyond representation.