• Physical Performance and the Languages of Translation

    Author(s):
    Stephe Harrop (see profile)
    Date:
    2010
    Group(s):
    Ancient Greece & Rome, Classical Tradition
    Subject(s):
    Choreography, Classsical literature, Criticism, interpretation, etc., Greek drama, Latin drama, Translating and interpreting
    Item Type:
    Book chapter
    Tag(s):
    Adaptation, Classical reception, Greek and Roman drama, Translation
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6PR9B
    Abstract:
    Our lack of reliable information concerning the physical and choreographic aspects of ancient tragic performance permits modern writers to construct their own imaginative re-creations of the ancient text/body relationship in a wide variety of modes. The range of ways in which texts translated or adapted from ancient tragedy are capable of suggesting performative physicalities is accordingly broad. However, we often respond to these new theatre works as if they were linguistic artefacts, as if theatre translation were merely the replacement of one counter with another in a word game played out at the level of the printed text, and relayed to an audience without the crucial corporeal intervention of breath, bone, tissue and muscle. This chapter is concerned with what physically happens in that moment when the written text of a drama is filtered and resonated and shared though the medium of an actor’s body. It is also concerned with the opportunities presented by the multiple re-versioning of Greek drama in the contemporary theatre to explore the multiple ways in which the formal qualities of dramatic text, especially poetic texts, can influence the physical life of a performance.
    Notes:
    Please note: the text uploaded here is a draft version of the chapter, and may not correspond exactly to that in the published volume.
    Metadata:
    Published as:
    Book chapter    
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    6 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved
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