Theatrical multilingualism and the translation of culture
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Abstract
Multilingual theatre offers aesthetic and socio-political outlets for theatre-makers to interrogate linguistic conventions in performance as well as to challenge social identity constructions based on language. However, a polyglossic play text poses particular challenges to translators whose goal exceeds the literary exchange of words in one language for those in another. In performance, the semantic value of speaking in an "other" language is carried in language itself; this is a translation problem if the target culture does not understand the socio-political conditions that determine the value of a speaker's language choice. This subject is here addressed via an interrogation of the meaning of language itself. An analysis of code-switching theory, paired with an examination of post-colonial and theatrical translation theories, provide the necessary framework for an analysis of how Martin Kevan translated Ne blâmez jamais les Bédouins in an effort which is sensitive to the cultural context of its performance.