Mariano Fortuny and the virtualization of the scenic space: electricity, heritage and imaginary.

Abstract

Introduction: The visual dimension of the theater focused the attention of Mariano Fortuny from very early on, whose principles of structural reconsideration of the scenographic space were to be directed in his experimental process towards two inseparably linked fronts: the physical conception of the scenographic space and the stage lighting, both in relation to the readjustment of the problems derived from the use of the new electric light and to the radical reform of its projection systems. Methodology: Critical revisionism in the light of the postulates of the theatricality, scenology or Performance Studies, of a transversal and non-experimental type. Results and discussion: The relationship between text, historical setting and stylistic evocation or free abstraction has constituted the development of theatrical figuration in the last century. In this context, Marino Fortuny brings multiple expressive implications provided by the new possibilities of this type of light that concurred with a substantial rethinking of the bases of naturalistic realism, according to which the scenographic design was progressively detached from the mimetic adherence to reality for the sake of its creative interpretation. Conclusions: The scenography takes a step further towards the so-called spatial design and the lighting technology becomes a dramatic, narrative, locative and diegetic instrument at the behest of the spectacular event, dramaturgical and substantial vector of the staging.

Conclusions: The scenography takes a step further towards the so-called spatial design and the lighting technology becomes a dramatic, narrative, locative and diegetic instrument at the behest of the spectacular event, dramaturgical and substantial vector of the staging.