Intermedia poetics in Nelson Rodrigues
Nelson Rodrigues; Intermediality; Dramaturgy; Scenography; Staging.
This paper analyzes the relationships between media, staging, and scenography, focusing
on the work of Nelson Rodrigues. The analysis is constructed from the perspective of
Intermediality Studies, through the investigation of intersections between media
combinations, scenographic writing, and their interrelations in the composition of the
scene. The study concentrates on creative practices and processes shaped by intermedial
displacements between spatial-visual arrangements and intermedial textures present in
the scenic text of performances based on Rodrigues’s work. For analysis, the following
theatrical productions were selected: Álbum de Família, performed by Grupo Galpão; and
Senhora dos Afogados and Os sete gatinhos, both staged by Teat(r)o Oficina Uzyna
Uzona. The theoretical framework of the research is grounded in Lars Elleström’s mediacentered communication model, in dialogue with Josette Féral’s Theory of
Performativity, Jorge Dubatti’s Philosophy of Theater, and other authors in the fields of
intermediality and theater. The study is based on the premise that the scenic phenomenon
in the theatrical domain constitutes a Theatrical Intermedial System – one that generates
relationships among source texts, choreographic scores, and dramaturgical works – and
manifests itself in the ephemerality of performance. This intermedial system, operated
through theatrical practice, is woven through the interlacing of primary media, technical
exhibition media, and the various layers of textualities and semiotic systems that emerge
in the scenic utterance during its encounter with perceiving subjects participating as
audience members in the performance.