Abstract: To examine the Spanish Trilogy by Beaumarchais, an 18th century dramatist, in light of dramaturgy, means to study the reform of drama at the time of the French classicism crisis. The novel, whose gender origin and principle differ from those of the drama, penetrates the dramatic text of the Trilogy through two novelistic elements - the stage directions and the theatre tableau. In describing details, the stage directions create narrative environments that come within static dramatic tableaux in order to elaborate a new dramatic text in which the narrative tableau and the dramatic action would coexist. The essence of this reform of drama lies in that a dramatic genre, in search of its own legitimacy, goes beyond its limits and thus departs from classicism and aims at a modern and contemporary dramatic writing. That is how the modernity of Beaumarchais' Spanish Trilogy is achieved.

Key words: novelization of drama, the SpanishTrilogy, stage directions, theatre tableau