"Cinco horas con Mario" on stage: Some considerations about an adaptation into Italian

Abstract

On November 26th, 1979, Cinco Horas con Mario was staged at the Marquina Theater in Madrid, as a theatrical adaptation of Miguel Delibes’ homonymous novel, first published in 1966. This play was a great success, as the novel was, too, when it was published. In fact, the novel itself has some features that are linked to a theatrical environment: the condensation of the plot, its formal organization, the absence of a heterodiegetic narrator, while, throughout the novel, there is ample room for a capturing and vigorous feminine monologue. This work takes into consideration these features, with refer to a translation of the theatrical text into Italian, keeping in mind the necessity of respecting the verisimilitude of dialogues, the specificity of the language (often colloquial), and also a correct reading of the message of the author. We shall also analyze some of the choices made in 1983 by Olmo Bin, who translated the novel into Italian, and we shall take into consideration some translational options with reference to the specificity of the comunication that takes place within the book and on stage.