by Nora Chan
Spring 2016 Intern
Last semester I completed an
introductory course to Shakespeare’s plays, and I remember struggling with the
language, hating that the relationships between the characters were even more
complicated than the plot of the film Inception
and laughing at the famous stage direction from The Winter’s Tale that read “Exit, pursued by a bear.” But it is
the variety of reactions and emotions in the audience that make these plays
great, and by translating them into different languages around the world, some
theater companies are reinventing the universality of Shakespeare’s work.
Shakespeare is known for his
comedies, tragedies and sonnets, all of which have been recreated, remade and
reinvented any number of times since he first wrote them in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries. His plays especially have been translated into many
different languages, including British Sign Language. There have even been
performances in Klingon for anyone who is both a Star Trek and a Shakespeare fan.
In 2012, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre
in the United Kingdom staged several of Shakespeare’s plays in 38 different
languages as a part of the Cultural
Olympiad. Dominic
Dromgoole, the Globe’s artistic director, stated that the company was trying to
show Shakespeare as an international language. The productions in the Olympiad included
The Tempest in Arabic, Julius Caesar in Italian, King Lear in Aboriginal, The Taming
of the Shrew in Urdu and Titus
Andronicus in Cantonese.
However, some worry that the plays
may not hold the same value or the same meaning in another language. For
instance, iambic pentameter is difficult to duplicate into other languages and
can sometimes make the play twice as long when the meter is attempted in a translation.
The plots are also a cause for worry for some; the play is often altered to fit
the culture and social norms that accompany the language. For example, in Romeo and Juliet the suicides of the
title characters are tragic to some audiences, while in other cultures, such as
Japan, the act may be considered honorable.
In defense of the translations, the
director of a Chinese production of As
You Like It in Beijing states: “But [humor] also does not translate in
English—because it is fair to be reminded that we don’t speak the language of
Shakespeare.” Additionally, with each translation Shakespeare’s plays become like
new and, as Brendan
Cole notes for the BBC, “foreign audiences get to hear it for the first
time.”
Nearly 400 years since
Shakespeare’s death, his work is still being transformed again and again on
stages all over the world in several languages. As a result, no two productions
are alike, which is part of the fun of seeing them over and over again!
Did You Know?
William
Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616. In order to discourage grave robbers,
he penned an epitaph for his tomb that included the warning “cursed be he that
moves my bones.” So far, his remains have not been disturbed.
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