Drama Translation and Theatre Practice (Salzburg Studies in English Literature and Culture SEL & C)

This collection of essays is dedicated to the theory and practice of drama translation. The focus is on foreign-language plays translated into English and staged in Anglo-American theatres. In this connection, concepts like acculturation and cultural transfer, Werktreue, adaptation, transformation and rewrites are discussed. Bringing together academia, the stage, and the ‘backstage’, Drama Translation and Theatre Practice involves a wealth of European cultures (Austrian, English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Romanian, Scottish, etc.) and spans more than five centuries. Where the essays concentrating on Molière, Racine, Marivaux, Sheridan, Da Ponte, Ibsen, Brecht, Jelinek and others meet is in questions of theory and questions concerning the target language. How are committed plays emerging in a particular socio-political context put on stage for audiences lacking such experience? How do translations produced for readers differ from stageable versions? How are libretti made singable? How does humour translate from one culture to another culture? Addressing such a variety of issues from both theoretical and practical perspectives, this book makes a weighty contribution to current debates about the role and function, performance and performability of plays in translation.