Abstract

Abstract:

Since the late twentieth century, nations shifting from a repressive regime to a liberal democracy have turned to transitional justice mechanisms, such as truth commissions, to help bridge this gap. With Truth in Translation, a 2006 musical about South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission as a case study, this essay explores the benefits and drawbacks of theatre about transitional justice. American director Michael Lessac devised Truth in Translation with a South African cast, and premiered the musical in Rwanda before traveling to the Balkans and Northern Ireland to facilitate forgiveness and dialogue between people on opposite sides of conflict. The musical dramatizes the lives of eight language interpreters as they direct the flow of information at the commission and soak up the painful memories of South Africa's past. In developing Truth in Translation, the cast became actor/interpreters, liminal figures who improvised scenes and characters by combining interpreter interviews with their own apartheid experiences. These actor/interpreters performed the difficult act of interpreting as a metaphor for reconciliation and forgiveness. Lessac's company, Global Arts Corps, has since used the musical as the prototype for two other transnational performance projects, one in Northern Ireland and the other in Cambodia. Rather than providing a roadmap to forgiveness or post-conflict transnational dialogue, the essay argues that Truth in Translation's true contribution lies in staging the myriad difficulties and ambiguities of transitional justice for its international audiences of survivors and perpetrators.

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