Comparative Drama

Geraldine Brodie’s The Translator on Stage offers an in-depth and carefully researched examination of the relationship between the translation process and artistic practice on the contemporary London stage. Given the continuing debate surrounding translation (is this cultural appropriation?), the play that results (does it pass the speakability test?), and the professional value of translation practice (will it count toward tenure?), Brodie’s investigation provides a refreshing perspective. Brodie focuses her book on translation in production, identifying what we can learn about linguistic signification, cultural context, power structures, and economics. She carefully examines the composition of production teams, asking: Where does the translation process start? Who contributes to the construction of the translated text? Who can claim authorship once the play has reached the stage? She considers power dynamics by exposing when, where, and how translators are included or excluded in the construction of new, newly translated, and adapted work. Theoretically framed and well researched, the primary data supporting Brodie’s investigation comes from the field, specifically eight productions in the London professional theatre during the 2005 season. All of the plays considered in this book were translated from another language into British English. [End Page 143]

In addressing her reasoning for the structure of her investigation, Brodie states “My research and discussions reflect the shifting nature of the subject itself; theatre translation is a field of mutability and sometimes unexpected liminality. It is also very exciting” (13). This book is not primarily a theoretical text. Brodie is concerned with the agency of the translator and the impact of power positioning on the final translation product. The composition of the creative team will necessarily shape and guide the translation process, one that is variant and particular to cultural context both geographic and economic. In order to examine translation agency, Brodie limits the field of independent factors. By selecting mainstream London theatres and one production season, she narrows the breadth of her investigation, allowing for more depth in her research.

Using archival material and interviews with participating artists, Brodie investigates three modes of translation: direct translation (from source language to target language), literal translation (a non-interpreted, dramaturgically based translation used as a reference document), and indirect translation (a translation created by a non-native speaker using a literal translation as the source text). Using these frames, Brodie considers whether literal translators are considered hired guns or significant members of the creative team. She investigates correlations between the direct translation process and that of the indirect translator regarding issues of cultural tension. She considers the degree to which economic pressures influence the selection of translated texts and the shape of the final text used in production. Does a literal translation have a life beyond its function as a reference document, or it is merely a “disposable commodity”? (152). “My aim was to map the processes of translation, attempting to identify the choices and positions of the agents, in order to assess the extent to which the interplay of the personal and the collective is demonstrable in theatrical translation, as a theoretical concept, but also as a perceptible activity” (155).

Each of the eight productions Brodie examines cover a substantial range of time: “from commission to performance” (13). In the first section of her book, Brodie creates an overview of the field of translation, locates the act of translation within the context of dramatic texts, and creates a summary of the productions and the artistic teams for each. Section 2 offers an in-depth discussion of each of the sites of investigation, providing an overview of each theatre, as well as the role each institution plays in the London theatre community. There are two useful tables which identify sources of revenue, and provide a reference for her discussion regarding the influence of box office receipts on the translation process. She shifts from an examination of the production site to the specific texts in section 3. Here she reveals the mechanisms of each production, detailing the process of selecting the text, the roles...