Best Practices for Selecting a Translated Script: A Dramaturg's Manifesto

Translators often refer to their work as a labor of love, but too often we, as theatre educators, practitioners, and audiences, are blind to the intensive labor inherent in the translation of a script. Each source text, or the text in the language of its first conception, contains a world built from the various lexical elements that emerge from an author's individual language and culture. A translator is responsible for transforming the source text into a target text, rendering this world into a different language for a different culture, all while maintaining the essence of the source text. Translations make up nearly 70 percent of the texts of my own theatre history courses, and they regularly appear on stages at high schools, universities, and community and professional theatres.

When selecting a translation for academic purposes or production, being able to identify the labor of the translator is integral to the success of any project. Educators are often restricted to using curriculum-approved anthologies, where translations are preselected for reasons that are not always apparent. It is essential to be aware that because the plays included in anthologies are typically staples of the canon, there are multiple translations available for most, if not all, of the source texts. As directors and dramaturgs we do not have the legal luxury of cutting and pasting several translations together to create a single, desirable text for the stage, and very often a translation is chosen because of the renown of the translator. Are you more likely to pack a theatre with a production of Mother Courage and Her Children translated by Tony Kushner, or by someone else whose name does not even appear on the title page? Our audiences expect a certain product in this instance, when the labor is visible because of the translator's reputation. But what, if anything, do we expect when that same labor is invisible? As educators and practitioners we must know how to make the labor of the "unknown" translator as visible as that of the known translator in order to select a script that will serve our project's best interests.

Through my work with Carol Maier, professor emeritus of translation at Kent State University, during a 2015 National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute titled "What Is Gained in Translation?" I have developed a process for educators and dramaturgs that outlines the best practices for selecting a translated text. Used in conjunction with standard dramaturgical research, these guidelines can help to make the translator's labor more visible and facilitate the translated script-selection process for the classroom and the stage. The following set of best practices outlines a process that is rigorous, perhaps more rigorous than those who are seeking a translated script are willing or able to undertake. But we must keep in mind how comprehensive the process should be, so that if one must forgo an exhaustive investigation due to time or resource constraints, these best practices can still be at the forefront of consciousness during the process.

Acknowledge Your Expectations

Our first responsibility in selecting a translated script is to be aware of our own expectations where translation is concerned. These expectations can affect how we approach target texts, as Maier [End Page E-1] clarifies: "This is not to suggest that one's preferences be set aside, but it is to suggest that they be held in abeyance as options are reviewed" (2010, 12). For instance, I may use Eric Bentley's translation of Mother Courage in a theatre history class because of his facility with the German language and attention to the historical and linguistic conventions of the source text. However, I may be more inclined to use Kushner's version if I am directing Mother Courage, because of its contemporary feel and rhythm. I may be hesitant to consider his translation of Mother Courage in a theatre history class, because Kushner has admitted in interviews that his German is "not good" and the translation process was more artistic than literal (Kalb). Understanding what you expect from a translation in any given situation is the...