THEATRE TRANSLATION

This course aims at familiarising students with the multifarious nature of theatre translation. It shall engage with current research that explores theatre translation in its most innovative forms. Throughout the module, students will undertake translation exercises and participate in class discussion. They will explore different aspects of theatre translation and various translation practices, while considering the relationship between a playtext and its semiotic concretisation in performance. Students will be able to take a practical look at how playtexts are rendered into another language from the translator’s approach(es) to the source text, through to the work of directors, actors, performers, and other theatre artists who bring translations to life for new, diverse audiences.

Continuous assessment – Final Project

Aaltonen, Sirkku. “Space and Place in Theatrical Contact Zones.” In Teatro e TraDUçãO. Eds. Palcos de Encontro, Maria João Brilhante, and Manuela Carvalho. Porto: Campo das letras, 2005. pp. 53–89. ---.Time-Sharing on Stage. Drama Translation in Theatre and Society. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 2000. Bassnett, Susan. “The Problems of Translating Theatre Texts”. Theatre Quarterly 10.38 (1980): 47-55. ---. “Ways through the Labyrinth: Strategies and Methods for Translating Theatre Texts”. In Hermans, Theo. ed. The Manipulation of Literature. Studies in Literary Translation. London: Croom Helm, 1985. pp. 87-102. ---. “Translating for the Theatre: The Case against ‘Performability’.” TTR 4.1 (1991): 99-113. ---. Translating for the Theatre-Textual Complexities”. Essays in Poetics 15.1 (1990): 71-84. Brodie, Geraldine. The Translator on Stage. London: Bloomsbury, 2017. ---.”Translation in Performance: Theatrical Shift and the Transmission of Meaning in Tony Harrison’s Translation of Euripides’ Hecuba”. Contemporary Theatre Review 24.1 (2014) 53–65. ---. “Theatre Translation for Performance: Conflict of Interests, Conflict of Cultures”. In Words, Images and Performances in Translation. Eds. Rita Wilson and Brigid Maher. London: Continuum, 2012, pp. 63–81. Espasa, Eva. “Performability in Translation: Speakability? Playability? Or Just Saleability?”. In Moving Target: Theatre Translation and Cultural Relocation. Ed. Carol-Anne Upton. Manchester: St Jerome, 2000. pp. 49–62. ---. “Stage Translation”. In The Routledge Handbook of Translation Studies. Eds. Carmen Millán and Francesca Bartrina. London and New York: Routledge, 2013. pp. 317–333. ---. “Adapting–and Accessing–Translation for the Stage”. In Adapting translation for the stage. Eds. Geraldine Brodie, and Emma Cole. London and New York: Routledge, 2017. pp. 279-289. Fryer, Louise, and Amelia Cavallo. Eds. Integrated Access in Live Performance. London and New York: Routledge, 2022. Griesel, Yvonne. Translation in Theater. Frankfurt: Peter Lang. ---. “Surtitling: Surtitles Another Hybrid on a Hybrid Stage.” Trans 13 (2009): 119-127. ---.“Surtitles and Translation towards an Integrative View of Theatre Translation.” in MuTra 2005—Challenges of Multidimensional Translation: Conference Proceedings. Germany, 2005. Krebs, Katja. ed. Translation and Adaptation in Theatre and Film. New York & London: Routledge, 2014. Ladouceur, Louise. “Surtitles Take the Stage in Franco-Canadian Theatre”. Target 25.3 (2013): 343–364. Malmkjær, Kirsten. Translation and Creativity. London: Routledge, 2019. ---. ed. The Cambridge Handbook of Translation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022. Nikolarea, Ekaterini, “Performability versus Readability: A Historical Overview of a Theoretical Polarization in Theatre Translation”. In Translation Journal 6.4 (2002). Oncins, Estella. “The Tyranny of the Tool: Surtitling Live Performances”, Perspectives 23. 1 (2015): 42–61. Pavis, Patrice. “Problems of Translation for Stage: Intercultural and Post-Modern Theatre”. In The Play Out of Context: Transferring Plays from Culture to Culture [transl. L. Kruger]. Eds. Hanna, Scolnicov, and Peter Holland. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1989. pp. 25-44. ---. Theatre at the Crossroads of Culture. Trans. Loren Kruger, London and New York: Routledge, 1992. Roger Baines, Christina Marinetti, and Manuella Perteghella. Eds. Staging and Performing Translation: Text and Theatre Practice. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. Zatlin, Phyllis. Theatrical Translation and Film Adaptation. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 2005.