The Ethical and Legal Stakes in Staging the Works of Bernard-Marie Koltès

Abstract

Bernard-Marie Koltès occupies a singular place in contemporary theatre: at once poetic and political, his work interrogates the human condition through questions of space, language, and otherness. Every staging of his texts draws the director into a delicate dialogue with the absent author: how to represent without betraying? How to adapt without distorting? This article examines the ethical and legal issues that surround the staging of Koltès, through the analysis of several emblematic cases (Chéreau, Touré, Bident) and by articulating notions of moral rights, artistic fidelity, and poetic responsibility. It aims to explore the fragile balance between memory and invention, between the letter of the text and the living pulse of the stage.