Theatrical Translation and Film Adaptation: A Practitioner’s View

Abstract

Translated novels and poems often arrive footnoted with “cultural notes” on words and allusions obscure to the reader’s cultural heritage. But translations of performances – whether of theatrical or cinematic dramas – have no recourse to such devices. The language experienced in performance has all the transience of an eavesdropped conversation, with no opportunity for review or back channeling: the immediacy of the audience’s engagement restricts the range of options available to the translator.