They go almost unnoticed. They are, however, essential players in the cultural milieu. The duty offers a series of portraits of shadow trades, through the confidences of professionals who practice them or have already practiced them. Today: translators in the theatre.
The career of the theater man Jean-Louis Roux was punctuated by controversy, and even the translator that he was sometimes did not escape it. In the spring of 1970, on the boards of the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, his translation ofHamlet, by Shakespeare, raised eyebrows. While everyone was about to hear the famous “To be or not to be” from the mouth of the most famous prince of Denmark, Roux had opted for “Existence or nothingness”, which gave the character the appearance of a philosopher hanging around Saint- Germain-des-Pres. Even at the time of the theater man’s death in 2013, a reader of the Duty returned to this controversy, proof that it had made an impression.
This choice and its turmoil have once again proven that translation is not a matter of strict communication, but constitutes an act of creation intended for spectators who will be sensitive to it, who will be dazzled, irritated or indifferent. According to several translators, it is above all for them that they struggle to transpose into another language, and sometimes into another socio-cultural context, the characters of a play. All this is therefore not just a matter of words and syntax.
Do we dream of practicing this profession, especially in the theatre? Mastering a second or even a third language is of course a prerequisite, but according to those who practice this profession, you must first get your hands dirty, get started with enthusiasm and love the theater above all. This is what has long guided Maryse Warda, a graduate in English literature, who dreamed of becoming an actress, but who instead found herself an administrative assistant at the Quat’Sous theater when it was directed by Pierre Bernard, in the early 1990s. Noting after a few months that she was bored “writing checks”, he offered to translate Star trails, by Cindy Lou Johnson, which she accomplished in five days. This piece has become one of the house’s great successes, and was performed this spring at the Rideau Vert. It was also the start of a brilliant career for Maryse Warda.
Since then, the translator of David Mamet, Harold Pinter, Brad Fraser, George F. Walker and Joyce Carol Oates has remained guided by the same principles. “Each time, I start from the essence of the piece,” says the one who, at the time of the interview, was preparing to head to Tadoussac for the Glassco translation residency, an annual event that has existed for 1998. “My goal is to bring it back to life through my filter. I am very sensitive to the choice of words, to the impact they have on us; when an author repeats some of them, it is far from trivial. »
Translation, staging
That said, although much of the work is done alone, translators do not operate in a vacuum, taking into account the parameters of artistic directors and directors. “Some people want us to respect the primary identity of the work, as in Walker’s plays, where we kept the English first names. Others prefer that we adapt completely, that we change the names, the references, so that the spectators do not pick up a few seconds wondering what it is about, ”underlines Maryse Warda. Sometimes, it is the guardians of copyright who are picky, marking out strictly what can be modified, or not, in a work.
A good or bad translation influences the reception of a piece. This was the case for Fanny Britt, passionate about theater from adolescence, frequenting the Quat’Sous at the time of Pierre Bernard, fond of American works. With her high school classmates, she recalls her embarrassment to ride Seen from the bridge, by Arthur Miller, “in French slang when we were illustrating a North American reality”. The one who is also a novelist (The houses, Make the sugars) and playwright (Kindness, Lysis) quickly understood the essential role of the translator as a cultural intermediary. ” Two years later Seen from the bridgewe had climbed Years, by Cindy Lou Johnson, at the Fringe Festival, with translation by Maryse Warda. It was there, and at the Quat’Sous, that I realized what translation could change. »
While studying playwriting at the National Theater School of Canada, Fanny Britt wanted to perfect her skills as a translator. She will be supported by René Gingras, then by Jean Marc Dalpé, who will supervise her first translation, Leenane’s beauty queen, by Martin McDonagh, which will be the subject of a co-production between The Unicorn and The Trident in 2002. These beginnings confirmed to her that she had her place in this profession, which she considers much less trying than that of playwright. “Translation is a constant renewal for me,” says Fanny Britt. I find it easier to defend a translation than one of my plays. The comments of the production team, I do not make it a personal matter! As a playwright, I feel like I’m bothering everyone with my work…”
Translating a cultural context
The motivations and trajectories of translators are as diverse as those of playwrights, each bringing their color, their vision, their ambitions. Philippe Blanchard, actor and translator who lived in New York for a long time and now lives in Los Angeles, translates Quebec works to introduce them to the public of his adopted country. We owe him a theatrical adaptation of Decline of the American Empireby Denys Arcand, produced in 2004, and later texts by Étienne Lepage (The elephant enclosure, Red Mouth).
Beyond his practice, Philippe Blanchard felt the need to add a theoretical background. He now holds a master’s degree in translation from UQAM’s École Supérieure de Théâtre. “I wanted a base, not only to continue my work, but to make sure that I was doing it properly,” says the man who has also translated American plays into French. His time at university especially reinforced his conviction about the posture of the translator vis-à-vis the playwright. “He must replace the author to present another universe, other characters, than those anticipated at the start. The author was not addressing the audience we want to address; we must therefore ensure that the spectators of another culture understand the situations described in the play. So we don’t just translate words: we add, we invent, we change, we modify, etc. »
Every time I leave the essence of the room
The thing would be simpler when one seizes a work of a deceased author, and in the public domain. A famous case of Quebec theatre: Michel Garneau’s famous “translations” of Shakespeare’s plays, where the characters expressed themselves in a triumphant play. Himself translator of the great Will (Romea river show recently staged by Brigitte Haentjens), Jean Marc Dalpé proudly remembers his translation of The Threepenny Opera, by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, in 2012, which took place… in Montreal in 1939. “With these works that have fallen into the public domain, you can do anything. Is it always successful? That’s another story ! launches into a thunderous laugh the one who is also an actor, screenwriter and playwright (The dog, August. A meal in the countryside).
As far as contemporary authors are concerned, “many have good lawyers”, says Dalpé ironically, but if we must take into account who is writing, we must think a lot “of the public, which is the same as that of the translator, because our job is to provide them with the most impactful and effective experience possible.
According to Maryse Warda, each piece, regardless of its origin or date of creation, imposes particular challenges, and the responsibility is greater when it is both a contemporary work and a first translation. “We must respect the author,” she says. And unlike the original work, a translation carries an expiry date. “Generally, it’s good for about 15 years, but you have to re-read it carefully to identify buzzwords and phrases that no longer hold up in today’s context, and no longer mean anything to the public. »
Revisiting a theatrical translation is in the order of things, according to Fanny Britt, unlike books or films, frozen in time. “When you translate a novel or an essay, there is the weight of durability. When you use a generic language, you get movie dubbing in a French that doesn’t correspond to anything, culturally speaking. The act of translating has a liberating side for me. A part moves very little, you are caught with it, in a way. Not a translation. »