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| [Woman and shadow*] |
Strangely enough, I most enjoy lectures that are in those areas of which I know
very little and in which I have no intention in entering. It is fascinating to
discover the magic of the unknown. This week, I had the pleasure of attending a
study day organized by the translation faculty of Beit Berl College, headed by Judith Rubanovsky-Paz, for its current
and past students. The program was entitled “Translation in the spotlight” and
discussed translation of theatre. Several leading translators in the field,
including in sign language, shared their wisdom. Among the many pearls offered,
I especially appreciated the insights regarding the place, plus figurative and
literal, of written translation in theatre, the need for periodic retranslation
and the art of translating classic plays.
Tami Rubin, an established and recognized theatre translator, brought
out the conflict between the requirement and disturbance of translation during a
performance. On the one hand, given the monolingual nature of the performer as
compared to the multilingual nature of the audience, surtitles, as they are
called when placed above the stage, allow the entire audience to fully follow
the action and reduce the language barrier to enjoyment. On the other hand, the
traditional practice of running translations above or even to the side of the
stage requires the audience to constantly switch its attention from the action
to the translation, a sometimes difficult and tiring maneuver. She noted that a
few productions have integrated the translation into the background of the
scene, allowing the viewer to read the translation and follow the action simultaneously.
She remarked that such an arrangement requires the set designer to consider
translation when planning the background. The talk brought out the difficult of
integrating translation into performance.
Eli Bijaoui, an award-winning theatre translator, discussed the need for
periodical retranslations of classics, including Molière and Shakespeare, in order to properly reflect their
content. He noted that these playwrights, notwithstanding their current status
as pantheons, wrote theatre to be understood and appreciated by all the people of
their time, i.e., in a language grasped to one degree or another by the entire
audience. In other words, they did not write in the language of the elite. He
gave the example of Romeo speaking to his friends, who are hassling him for
spending too much time with Juliet. His language is slangish and crude as is
typical of young males in a such a situation. Eli argues that retaining the
slang of even 10 years ago causes the text to lose its earthiness, an essential
part of its content. He notes that the translation should not go overboard on
slang but still should transfer the tone of the conversation. Thus, classic
translations, regardless of their quality, are not written in stone but should
flow like water for their time.
In regards to the actual text, Eli distinguished form from word choice.
On the one hand, notwithstanding the challenge, the translation of texts
written in specific meters, such as the comedies of Molière or the , should retain that or a similar structure in order
to remain loyal to the spirit of the original, taking into account the fact
that the actors must speak the text. On the other hand, the translator can and
should adopt the choice of idiom, example or joke such that the audience reacts
as the playwright intended, e.g., laughter or sadness. Clearly, an image or
reference alien to most people viewing the play will not translate the intention of the
original. He gave us wonderful examples from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet
and Molière’s Ecole des
femmes of how he translated the original text in to Hebrew. It was a brief
but fascinating glimpse of the challenge and joy of successful theatre
translation.
Lee Dan, a sign language translator also active in theatre, noted that
the translator must be transparent, i.e., invisible to the audience, and explained that it is a difficult task. In other words, the purpose of the theatre
translation, especially since the text is spoken and not written, is to facilitate
understanding, not complicate it. Thus, even more than technical translation,
theatre translations is truly an art and worthy of great appreciation. In
transmitting that message, the Beit Berl study day showed great light on that
subject.
* Picture captions allow the blind to fully access the Internet.
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