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The Unspoken Texts of Theatre Plays - Theatre of small languages in translation by Robrecht De Spiegelaere
Although the Netherlands and Flanders represent twenty million of people, the Dutch language area is one of the smallest language areas in Europe and is in danger of disappearing.
What can we do to protect and to export our culture?
What are, in this context, the specific problems for the theatre?
These problems are relatively new. There's hardly made any theoretic analysis yet. There are a lot of questions. The answers are few.
Starting from a problem of definition. What does it mean when we talk about a 'small language'? Are we talking about quantity or about quality? How and by whom this will be defined?
And ending with problems of a much wider range, including the dangers of isolation, protectionism, nationalism, uniformation....
Meanwhile, there's one positive element in living in a small language area: there's a great 'input' of foreign culture. The result is a greater ability to be open for foreign languages and cultures. Also the theatre shows great interest in discovering other language productions.
But when it comes to the 'output' of the own culture, a small language area has to deal with a lot of obstacles. The translation and distribution frequency of Dutch literature and poetry is low. And for the theatre they are even more complicated, because exporting a theatre-production is very difficult to organize and there are great financial risks involved. You can put a text in an envelope and send it wherever you want. But you can't do the same with actors, technicians, a set....
There's another important difference between literature and theatre. The play-writing is an important element in the theatre. But what makes the theatre a living art, is the acting. And the acting often reveals a lot more of the play-writing, the theatre and the culture, as the text itself does.
A recent evolution makes this difference even more important. Play-writers collaborate more and more with directors and actors. As a result of this, the amount of the sub-text in a play is larger than before. More and more remains unspoken. And precisely what remains unspoken, contains the essence, the sensitivities and the traditions of a culture. Therefore it has become impossible to separate play and performance.
Regarding the future, it is my conviction that international collaboration in the theatre can't be stimulated artificially, nor organized by institutions or governments. Theatre is made by people. And therefore significant (international) collaborations can only grow out of personal contacts and affinities.
What concerns the translation of plays.
The group of interested people is small. Therefore it is important to focus on 'big languages'. Alternative translations, such as sub-titling or simultaneous translations, are interesting possibilities. Here are no rules: every production has its specific needs.
Last, but not least, there is the importance of the interaction with the audience. From the theatre's point of view the problem is to translate the own culture to people of another culture. But also the audience has to be willing to look at a performance without understanding the language. This assumes a learning process. The audience has to know the context and theatrical tradition of a culture.
Resumιe:
The spreading of the theatre of small language areas is more complicated than one could think. It is not enough to spread the synopsis or the text of a play. Video-recordings, photographic material and background information are necessary. The organization of international performances is very dangerous and can only succeed if it can rely on personal contacts.
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