Herramientas embotadas

This article tackles the problem of editing the stage directions from a neo-Lachmannian point of view. After considering the nature of the stage direction a sign within the semiotic nature of the theatrical text, the behaviour of the copyists in the manuscript and printed transmission of the Spanish theatre of the Golden Age is taken into account, in order to analyse those problems that arise in the application of the method in the phase of constitutio textus. Thus, the focus is on four paradigmatic cases: variants stemming from different staging; variants within a recensio cum stemmate; variants in a contaminatio; lack of stage directions either in one-witness traditions or in the archetype.