Nineteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

The database Early Modern European Theatre: Heritage and Databases (EMOTHE), research project granted to the Faculty of Philology, Translation and Communication of the University of Valencia–ref. PID2019-104045GB-C54–is a repertory of texts, critical editions, and translations of Italian, English, French and Spanish sixteenth and seventeenth-century plays. Currently, EMOTHE is introducing an additional section on audiovisual adaptations of such plays. So far, databases tackling these audiovisual works remain unevenly distributed and fragmentary. For this reason, EMOTHE intends to set the foundations for an all-encompassing overview on audiovisual adaptations of early modern European plays. Over this presentation, I will tackle the rationale for the categorizations EMOTHE proposes by resorting to the discipline of digital humanities and the critical and theoretical works on adaptations of theatre works to the audiovisual media. As I will prove, EMOTHE’s section on audiovisual adaptations expands knowledge given by previous databases on audiovisual adaptations of theatre works with regards to their typology, relationship to source text and to specific stage precedents, recording modes, genres, paratexts, etc. Overall, EMOTHE’s audiovisual section is expected to provide valuable information for specific and pan-European comparative approaches to address the valuable heritage of audiovisual adaptations of early modern theatre.